


Maid to Serve Alternate

by LexiTheDoubleedge



Series: Maid to Serve Alternate [1]
Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Anal, Angst, Communication is Awesome but Difficult, Consent Focus, Dominance, Dress Up, F/F, Futanari, Girl Penis, Incest, Light Dom/sub, Masturbation, Submission, Switching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2019-11-17 13:37:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18099554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexiTheDoubleedge/pseuds/LexiTheDoubleedge
Summary: A chance discovery makes Taylor realize that she's just as interested in being dominated by Missy as the other way around. This should be easy to arrange and in no way lead to any awkwardness.(And before that) When Amy Dallon decides that spanking her sister is a bad idea, it leads to a revelation that will change their lives forever.





	1. Resonance Cascade

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Maid to Serve](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14428956) by [WestOrEast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WestOrEast/pseuds/WestOrEast). 



> This is an alternate universe of WestOrEast's Maid to Serve. It was originally inspired by my thinking "Are Missy and Taylor going to switch? They should totally switch." It grew noticeably in scope from there.
> 
> This story will have strong themes of consent, negotiation, and communications in general. This isn't because I'm interested in harshing anyone's fantasies with realism, but because this stuff makes for good fantasies for me. Note that while I'm trying to depict these things done well, I'm not perfect and neither are the characters. If this story inspires anyone to pursue better communication in their relationships, that would actually make me incredibly happy, but there are probably going to be things in here that shouldn't be emulated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an alternate take on the ideas within "Maid to Serve: Sisterly Discipline?" and "MtS: Bank Job", where Amy chooses a different route to accomplish her goals...

Victoria yipped again as Amy directed her hand back down onto her sister’s rear. Her palm slid off the forcefield, her strength not enough to even make it break for even a fraction of the second. But Victoria felt like another blow from Amy’s palm had landed on her rear. And she reacted appropriately.  
  
And to Amy's surprise, Victoria Dallon, Glory Girl, felt a bit of pleasure. That wasn't something Amy had done. She was just making her sister feel the appropriate amount of pain from getting spanked. The spark of pleasure that lingered after each blow was entirely Victoria’s doing.  
  
And that changed things.  
  
"Vicky? Did that feel good to you?" It wasn't quite a rhetorical question. Amy could feel exactly what was happening to her sister's body, after all, and they both knew it. But what she wasn't sure about was why it was happening.  
  
Under different circumstances, Vicky might have answered more evasively if at all. But the feelings of the moment combined with the surprise in the question led her to a much more open response. "Er... yeah. Since I got my powers, I can't really feel people touching me most of the time... masturbating's completely impossible, and even Dean's emotion blasts aren't enough."  
  
Oh crap.  
  
Amy let go of her sister, laid back on the floor of the gazebo, and shut her eyes. She sighed. This was like a failure wrapped in a glorious failure. Because now she absolutely, positively could not spank Victoria Dallon.  
  
Amy wasn't any kind of psychology expert - her focus was primarily on the body - but she knew some of the basic principles.  
  
_Behavior that is rewarded is repeated._  
  
And sexual pleasure was one hell of a reward. If she tried to punish her sister like this, she might -want- to do better - Vicky was careless, not malicious. But it was entirely possible, maybe even likely, that knowing what "punishment" might await would subconsciously fray her control. It would be a perfect example of a negative feedback loop. Increased skill on Glory Girl's part would lead to less pleasure from Amy, leading to a reduction in skill until more pleasure was obtained.  
  
Glory Girl would never stop causing excessive injuries, never really learn to avoid causing collateral damage. And it would all be Amy's fault.  
  
"Sorry, Vicky. Sorry. This was a bad idea."  
  
She hadn't really covered herself in glory with this plan, had she?  
  
Then Amy groaned as she realized the terrible pun she'd just made. She might very well have had 'glory' all over her legs if she'd kept that up.  
  
And she really wanted to. Just the fact that something she'd done had given her sister pleasure was turning her on like she couldn't believe.  
  
But however Vicky's body was feeling, Amy knew that Vicky wasn't in love with her. Didn't want to be with her. Hadn't agreed to have Amy do anything sexual to her.  
  
Once might be dismissed as an accident. But if Amy kept spanking her sister, with full knowledge of the effect it was having on her, that would be _sexual assault with a parahuman power_. They'd _birdcage_ her for that.  
  
Wait, was her sister even actually a masochist? If she'd been that touch-deprived for years now, she might not even be enjoying the pain itself and just reacting to something more like sensory overload. How would she even tell? Hell, would -Vicky herself- be able to tell? The thought didn't really make her feel better.  
  
Amy felt a hand taking one of hers, shortly followed by Vicky's biology lighting up on her senses. "Ames? You okay?"  
  
Amy opened her eyes and saw her sister leaning over her. That alone was enough to bring a bit of a smile to her face. "Yeah. I just needed to think." The way her body felt now was making it very easy to imagine all sorts of interesting scenarios involving Vicky leaning over her in a secluded location... but she'd keep that to herself.  
  
Vicky didn't reply. As the silence stretched on, Amy noticed her sister fidgeting and glancing away periodically. It was rare to see the boisterous girl like this, but Amy could recognize the signs. Vicky was nervous about something.  
  
Obviously she'd have to give her sister a push. "Vicky? What's gotten into you?"  
  
Vicky startled, but didn't let go of Amy's hand. "Ah, Amy, could you... I know you don't see me as anything but your sister, but..." She almost visibly wilted, before adding quietly, "I haven't been able to cum in so long..."  
  
Amy swore that hearing that was almost enough to send -her- over the edge all by itself. Vicky wanted Amy to help her get off. Amy was surprised Vicky couldn't -smell- the arousal coming off of her by now.  
  
The idea struck her like a lightning bolt.  
  
_Behavior that is rewarded is repeated._  
  
Amy might not be able to punish Victoria for her failures - not without tearing her own principles to shreds, anyway - but she could certainly reward Vicky for her successes. She would be positively -delighted- to reward Vicky for her successes all night long...  
  
It was like a bucket of cold water crashing down on her. She couldn't do this. Not without Vicky knowing. Sure, maybe it wouldn't hurt anybody. Maybe her sister had come just barely short of propositioning her. But she'd always feel like she was just using Vicky for her own pleasure if she didn't tell her.  
  
So she had to tell her. No matter how much much it scared her. If she couldn't do it now, under these circumstances, she didn't think she'd ever manage it. "Vicky, I do love you like a sister. But I also want you. I've wanted you for years. You're the most beautiful and desirable woman in the world to me." Amy's smile turned a bit sour. "But I knew you only saw me as your sister."  
  
Vicky looked down at her in shock for a moment, before she started giggling. "I suppose that means you won't have a problem with my request."  
  
Amy just had to tease her a bit. "I really shouldn't be rewarding you right now." Vicky's face fell. But Amy wasn't done. "But I can reward you when you do well. And since this is a new arrangement, I suppose I can provide you with a... sample." She reached up with her free hand and caressed Vicky's cheek, transferring the correct sensations for the touch and feeling the warm pleasure reflected back at her via the hand she was still holding. "You should know what you're striving for, after all."  
  
Vicky looked almost entranced. With her free hand she reached up and ran her fingers along Amy's hand, while slowly leaning down...  
  
And then their lips met, and Amy found that Vicky had just given up on going slowly. Her sister may not have been able to feel exactly what she was doing, but she'd apparently learned to kiss like hell -somehow-. And with Amy continuing to relay sensations to her, Vicky was getting the full benefit of her own expertise.  
  
Finally Vicky pulled back. "Wow," she said, red-faced and panting. "If that's what it felt like, no wonder Dean always came back..."  
  
Amy wasn't particularly thrilled at at the mention of Vicky's on-off boyfriend... but then, he'd obviously never managed to make Vicky feel like this, so maybe she should be the one feeling smug this time.  
  
In the meantime, Vicky had apparently decided that intermission was over and dove back in, this time getting her free hand into the mix. She seemed to have forgotten that the idea was for Amy to pleasure -her-. But then, Vicky would probably say, why worry about a little detail like that? Amy certainly wasn't complaining. Her sister obviously didn't have any real experience with girls, but she had a startling ability to read Amy's signals, and was more than obviously enjoying the feeling of Amy's body responding to her. Still, Amy decided she wasn't going to be left behind either.  
  
If someone had asked Amy this morning how she would feel about her first time being in a public park, a secluded but far from private location, she'd have told them they were insane, and to go fuck themselves, not necessarily in that order. But as Amy lay here, fondling her sister's ass and feeling the pleasure it gave her, different from the spanking but just as intense, she knew that she wouldn't give this up for anything. Also, my god, if just peripheral stimulation was getting Vicky going this much, what would actual genital contact do?  
  
Vicky moaned against Amy and shifted a bit, grinding her crotch hard against Amy's thigh, and Amy, for whom this power usage had become almost automatic, relayed the signals without thinking.  
  
Vicky went off like an explosion. An action movie explosion, that just seemed to go on and on when it should have long since finished. “Oh God. Oh God, oh yes, yes, yesyesyes!”  
  
The combination of feeling Vicky's reflected pleasure and her sister's body writhing against her was enough to send Amy into the best orgasm she'd ever had. And then she came down from it, and Vicky was -still going-. Amy was torn between basking in the feelings coming off her sister and worrying about whether or not this was actually healthy, so she settled for doing both.  
  
It had also not escaped Amy's notice that she had, indeed, ended up 'covered in glory', her sister's arousal soaking through Vicky's shorts and into her own. If anything the squishy feeling seemed to be increasing Vicky's delight, although she'd come down quite a ways from the initial peak by now.  
  
Slowly, gradually, Vicky transitioned into the most profound state of post-orgasmic bliss that Amy had ever heard of. Her movements became gentler, less needy and pleasure-seeking, just enjoying the contact.  
  
Then Vicky's face turned towards Amy's, her smile taking Amy's breath away before she pulled herself up for another kiss. It was gentle and sweet and Amy knew she'd never be able to get enough of them. "Thank you _so much_ , Amy."  
  
Amy smiled back. "And there's more where that came from..." she teased. Well, maybe not quite this much at once. Amy couldn't even imagine what her sister could do that would be bad enough to leave her alone for years again. Not after the experience she'd just had.  
  
Vicky laughed. "For this, I can sit through any number of Uncle Neil's lectures on avoiding collateral damage."  
  
"-And- put them into practice. Don't forget that part."  
  
"And put them into practice, yeah. So, how did you pull this off, anyway? I could feel everything you were doing to me." Vicky gave Amy a quick kiss on the cheek. "I could feel -me- doing things to -you-. That just isn't something that happens with me anymore."  
  
"See, it's like this..." As the two of them laid back and she explained the new trick with her power that she'd come up with, Amy's smile got a bit wider.  
  
She had a feeling that things were going to get better from now on.  
  
***  
  
The rest of the family (and not a few persons outside of it) were surprised but pleased when Glory Girl finally started getting her act together. It wasn't an overnight process, and there were some false starts - it wasn't easy unlearning the habits of her entire cape career. But she was getting better.  
  
No one thought there was any particular connection between Glory Girl's improved performance and Panacea's greatly improved mood. Well, beyond the obvious at least - the people who knew them both understood that Victoria's fecklessness had worn on her sister, even if they didn't know all the details.  
  
Nor was anyone inclined to press for details on why she'd finally changed her ways. If it was fixing itself, don't break it, was the general consensus.  
  
***  
  
Amy was incredibly happy.  
  
The bank robbery was the biggest incident her sister had been involved with since they'd reached their new understanding, and her performance had been exemplary. Sure, they hadn't managed to capture any of the Undersiders, but against a well-coordinated team that was never guaranteed. More importantly, all the hostages were safe, the villains had been forced to flee without all of their ill-gotten gains, and Glory Girl had helped make that happen with minimal collateral damage.  
  
Minimal didn't mean none, of course. Some damage was almost inevitable in a serious cape fight. But the amount was well within the PRT guidelines for appropriate force for a situation like this. And more importantly, there had been a point to it. Vicky hadn't just bashed through something because it was in her way or she didn't notice it, she'd made the choice to damage things in order to protect people, and it'd been the -right call-.  
  
Some would say she shouldn't be rewarding Vicky just for doing what she should be doing in the first place. Amy, however, cared more about results. And if Vicky fully internalized all the things that the rest of her family was trying to teach her, and a day like today was just an excuse for them to have some fun together, wasn't that good and also good?  
  
Either way, Amy had just the thing to show her sister how happy she was about her performance today.  
  
It was a pair of cuffs made from a soft but stretchy fabric, linked together by an elastic cord. The whole structure was laced through with organic matter that was an exact match for her sister. One cuff would go around one of her ankles, another around one of Vicky's. If all went well, she'd be able to use her power through the connection.  
  
And then she'd be able to pleasure her sister with both hands, without having to worry about moving too quickly and losing the connection.  
  
Amy didn't intend to stop here. Vicky's sense of touch-desire was starting to return to what she considered a normal level, and there were a lot more sensations in the world worth experiencing than just what could be found in the bedroom. Amy was hoping that someday they'd find a way to let her sister moderate her force field, letting her feel it all without needing Amy's help. But she wasn't going to pin all her hopes on that; she intended to find ways to help now. She had some ideas for a more unobtrusive system, probably based on wristbands, that could be used in public. It wouldn't be enough for everything, but it would be better.  
  
But first, she had to test the prototype.  
  
In the bedroom.  
  
Amy couldn't -wait- for Vicky to get home.  
  
***

In another world, the events at the bank would have ended any chance for a friendship between Panacea and Tattletale before it could begin. But between the faster and more skillful response by Glory Girl, and some of Panacea's secrets not being so secret anymore, this enmity never quite had the chance to materialize.

This would have certain long-term repercussions.

***  
  
Amy's ongoing results were mixed. She still hadn't cracked the basic problem with the force field, but she had managed to figure out a trick for growing things on her sister's body that her power didn't quite recognize as a part of her, and thus left -outside- the field. That had opened up a lot of options for them.  
  
They even managed, eventually, to figure out whether or not Vicky was actually a masochist.  
  
But some secrets couldn't be kept secret forever...  
  
***  
  
Dealing with Phage and Starstruck was just weird. I wasn't sure that their relationship was exactly -unhealthy-, but you never knew quite what the pair of them would whip out at the least appropriate time.  
  
Thankfully, Tattletale was willing to act as their main point of contact with the rest of the team, but there were some things Tattletale couldn't handle for me. Namely, the bugs. So here I was, flying out to their hideout now.  
  
I hoped they wouldn't be doing the cat thing today. Seeing Starstruck pretend to groom herself with her tongue was just weird.  
  
I really hoped she was pretending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even ignoring the consent issues - which, if you've read the intro to my QQ thread, you'll know that *that's not what these Morgan's do-*
> 
> *ahem* Even ignoring the consent issues for the moment, for the sake of talking about something else, creating a positive association between inflicting unnecessary injuries and sexual pleasure in Vicky's mind is [I]bad plan[/I]. So what happens if Amy realizes that?
> 
> Of course, once I got that far into it, I had to add a good dollop of informed consent to the mix. Oooooh yeah. That's the good shit right there.
> 
> negative feedback loop - It really does seem to fit, if you define the product as "a less destructive Glory Girl". Which made me happy, because I wanted to use a correct name for the pattern.
> 
> 'glory' all over her legs - I make no apologies for this pun. I want to use it again, even.
> 
> Hadn't agreed to have Amy do anything sexual to her. - Didn't do so in the original either!
> 
> I know you don't see me as anything but your sister, but... - Vicky initiating things just kind of happened, but when I saw it I happening I knew I had to run with it. I think I've seen something like that happen maybe -once- ever, and I'm not sure I should even -count- what happened in "When your Mother is the Simurgh..."
> 
> she had a startling ability to read Amy's signals - I have a hard time imagining Dean -wanting- Vicky to lay hands on him unless she's really good at reading a partner's signals to make up for a lack of kinesthetic feedback. So she is.
> 
> feeling Vicky's reflected pleasure - This isn't supposed to be -erogenous- for Amy, but it's definitely -erotic-, and she's pretty worked up herself at this point, so I figured what happened here was enough.
> 
> growing things on her sister's body - Not just penises. I mean, they've probably done that too, but they weren't going to limit themselves to -just- that.
> 
> They even managed, eventually, to figure out whether or not Vicky was actually a masochist. - I'm deliberately leaving the answer to this open-ended. Though it does occur to me that I'm already writing one setting with a mildly masochistic Glory Girl, I don't really need two.
> 
> Tattletale was willing to act as their main point of contact - I'll be coming back to this point later. Probably. (I did.)
> 
> doing the cat thing today - Come on, this is Vicky. (Or, for the purposes of this story, I'm assuming this is Vicky. Just, if Phage and Starstruck turn out to be Amy and Vicky's daughters from the future, I totally called it.) She's totally a cat. You can trust me to know on matters such as this, because I'm also a cat. /\^-^/\
> 
> I really hoped she was pretending. - Of course she was pretending. Starstruck doesn't have fur, you can't properly groom yourself with your tongue with no fur. She was just licking herself in front of other people to mess with them. That's totally better, right Taylor?


	2. For a Fellow Sufferer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter does not correspond to a specific part of MtS, but takes place sometime after Amy and Vicky switching flags, but at least a couple months before chapter 6. It assumes Tattletale is out to those two as well.
> 
> Couldn't quite get the dialogue to come out the way I wanted it in this one. Maybe I'll come back to it later, but for now I'm just saying whatever and moving on.

I looked back and forth between my sister and Lisa. "Could someone explain to me why we're here again."

"Lisa has a problem she needs you to help with," my sister replied.

Well that didn't make any sense. I'd healed her not that long ago, and she didn't look like she'd received any new injuries since. In fact, from the look on her face, I was starting to think there was a joke being played at my expense. Still, I stuck my hand out, and Lisa obligingly touched it. "There's nothing wrong with her." Other than her sense of humor.

"You're not looking for the right things!" Vicky pouted.

Sigh. "Just... explain what you're talking about, all right? I have no idea what you're going on about."

"You need to help her with her power-induced anorgasmia!"

What.

I stood up and bowed deeply to Lisa. "Please excuse my sister for this violation of your privacy. I assure you that I'll punish her thoroughly for the transgression."

Vicky whapped me on the shoulder. "Stop that, I'm serious here."

Was it me? Did I do something that turned Vicky into some kind of sex evangelist? I was literally having exactly as much sex as she was, and it hadn't done this to me. And Lisa was... starting to look kind of fidgety? Oh hell. "And she's got you in on this too."

"It's not exactly... not a problem, anyway." Lisa shrugged. "Ever since I got my power, if I try to get too close to someone... let's just say that there's such a thing as too much information even for me."

I turned back to Vicky. "You do realize that if I can even do this, it'll probably require physical contact, right?" There was a reason she'd never tried to hook up with Dean again after I figured out a workaround for her force field, even though I knew she wanted to - being -with- them like that would just be too weird for me. (And probably him too, but I didn't care so much about that.) I think she understood that too, since she'd never asked me.

"That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Sacrifice hell. I could practically see visions of making me the meat in a blonde sandwich dancing in her eyes. And so could Lisa, based on her renewed look of amusement. Dammit, now I was thinking about it! These two really were ganging up on me. "Okay, look, just answer me this. Do you actually want this, or are you just playing along with my sister for shits and giggles?"

"I don't know." Well, that was one answer I wasn't expecting. "I can remember being attracted to people. I'm pretty sure I liked it. I think I'd like to know if it's possible. If nothing else, maybe it'd make being around Grue and his wife easier..."

I sighed again. "Okay. That's enough that I'm willing to start looking into the problem. I make no promises about anything after that. Also, Vicky has to stop smiling like that."

Vicky just smiled wider. I have a bad feeling about this...

***

I don't know if it'd be fair to say it was a slow process. It'd taken me longer purely in terms of time spent getting the first "remote link" for Vicky working correctly.

On the other hand, I had been able to just work on that whenever I wanted, whereas this project I could only get a few minutes at a time in on before Lisa would say she had to leave or she wouldn't be able to look at me anymore. Which made for slow going.

Even once I had a working solution, I couldn't really tell why it worked, in part because the way Lisa described it didn't make sense. How could her power consider something important and unimportant at the same time?!

And of course it required continuous contact. Because I wasn't that lucky.

That just left one question - what now?

***

"I just have one question. Why are two you dressed like that?"

Lisa raised an eyebrow while smoothing down the skirt of her Glory Girl costume, while Vicky ran a hand along the side of her Tattletale costume. Then, almost like they'd rehearsed it, they both said "Maybe I'm just that narcissistic."

Yep. They're just trying to screw with me. Or screw me.

Then they started making out right in front of me and I realized it was definitely both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This should explain a few things.
> 
> If I ever have money, I'm seriously tempted to commission artwork of the ending there. Foreground, costume swapped Lisa and Vicky kissing. Seen through the space between them, Amy looking up at them with wide eyes and the blush to end all blushes. Wonderful.


	3. Maid-and-Switch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually the part of MtSA that got written first, but it took me longer to get it ready to post. For the purposes of this story, Taylor either does not know that Missy is Vista, or has cognitive dissonanced herself out of believing it.
> 
> This chapter takes place not long after MtS chapter 6. Also, the timeline has been stretched out slightly - the NAB will be showing up next weekend, instead of the immediately coming one. This also means that, alas, a certain conversation with Parian in 6.5 didn't happen before these events took place. (Also that hadn't been posted yet when I wrote this.)
> 
> This story made possible in part by generous assistance from Expressive Hill - Harmonics EOLIA, EXEC_RIG=VEDA, EXEC_PAJA (both versions), and other Songs In Languages I Don't Actually Understand.

**Taylor**  
  
It began, as things often had lately, with looking at internet porn. Looking for more interesting things to do with Missy. I was still thinking about branching out some more, but that day I was still focused on maids.  
  
The thing about porn on the internet? It's not very well organized. Tagging systems aren't always perfect. Or people use the wrong ones. You end up seeing things that you weren't actually looking for.  
  
I suppose technically the tags hadn't actually failed me. There was a maid. There was bondage. There was even spanking. The maid wasn't the one tied up or being spanked though.  
  
And I wanted it.  
  
I hadn't really thought about being on the receiving end before. But then, I'd never seriously thought about doing any of it until I met Missy. I still wanted to do more things to Missy. But I'd also had a quite satisfying amount of that already. And the idea of Missy spanking me, Missy tying me up, Missy fucking me silly just like I'd done to her... it was more enticing than I would have ever expected. It was an itch that I never knew I had, and now I really wanted to scratch it.  
  
But I wasn't going to see Missy again for a while. So I kept looking at porn, but I was thinking about it from a different perspective now, and imagining what could happen when I next saw her.  
  
Oh, that looked good.  
  
And this.  
  
And...  
  
Oooh. It might be a little unconventional, but if I combined it with something I'd already thought about doing with Missy...  
  
I really, really, wanted that.  
  
And I should have just enough time left to make it happen.  
  
**Missy**  
  
It'd been several days since I'd last been to Skitter's base. That probably meant things were going to be more intense today, in one way or another.  
  
I didn't see her when I arrived. That wasn't unusual.  
  
My maid costume wasn't there. That was very unusual.  
  
Then the bugs arrived. I'd seen this before, Skitter using her insects to send messages by forming words on walls, or sometimes in the air.  
  
_Put on the costume_  
  
And there was an arrow pointing to a bag that I hadn't noticed before.  
  
It was a Vista costume. A pretty crappy one too, speaking as someone in a position to know. Definitely not a Parian special, this looked like it had been put together out of a mixture of normal street clothes, cast off Halloween costume bits, and some junk from the PRT gift shop. I had to suppress a giggle when I imagined Skitter visiting the shop to buy those last bits, even if I was sure she hadn't actually done it herself. And wow, had the quality of the plastic in these visors gotten even worse? I would have sworn that was impossible.  
  
But for all it's faults, it was unmistakably a Vista costume. And at least it all fit. The panties were too tight for the chastity belt... but that wasn't here either.  
  
When I left the bathroom, there was a new message, and an arrow pointing towards the stairs.  
  
_The safe word is still "Sanskrit"_  
  
I was trembling. I still didn't know how to reconcile "Missy, the superheroine" with "Missy, the maid". I wasn't sure I was ready to be 'Vista' with Skitter.  
  
But I still went up to the second floor.  
  
It was empty. What was I supposed to do here?  
  
Then I saw the insects flying up from downstairs. They seemed to be moving more slowly than usual for some reason. I watched as they formed words that I both longed for and dreaded.  
  
_Vista was captured by Skitter_  
  
I squeezed my eyes shut. I wasn't sure I was ready for this. No, I was sure I wasn't ready for this! What was going to happen to me now?  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
I opened my eyes.  
  
Was my vision blurring? Was this piece of shit visor even worse than I thought? Or had I just been seeing what I expected to see? I didn't know. But the message wasn't what I'd thought it was.  
  
_Vista has captured Skitter_  
  
And another arrow pointing up.  
  
I had no idea what was going on. Nothing made sense anymore.  
  
But it was pretty obvious where the answers were. Skitter's bedroom. I'd only been there once before, and that hadn't gone entirely well. But I couldn't stop now.  
  
**Taylor**  
  
Parian was too busy to take a rush order for me. I wasn't terribly surprised. That was okay, I could improvise.  
  
My own costume was easier. After all, I was the number one source for authentic Skitter costumes, and I didn't throw anything away when I updated my equipment. I could salvage almost everything I needed from one of the obsolete ones. Removing the bits I didn't want getting in the way was more of a challenge, but I could handle it. And the torn edges added to the ambience.  
  
Properly - or at least adequately - restraining myself was more difficult. I was no idiot - I tested every technique without actually tying myself up to make sure that I could get myself out if I needed to. I wasn't worried about Missy abandoning me, but what if she couldn't make it here at all? I knew she sometimes had surprise commitments, so it wasn't a possibility I could ignore.  
  
In theory I could have asked one of the others to help, but... no. Just no. Lisa would probably do it, but then she would smirk at me every time I saw her for the rest of our natural lives. And everyone else would be even worse. No, I'd handle this myself.  
  
The blindfold was to some extent a symbolic gesture. I could cover my eyes, but I couldn't shut off the multitude of awareness that my power gave me. Not to mention that it was too dangerous to even try. But for a while I could set aside the more concentration-intensive tasks, let the more routine things go the back of my mind, and focus on what my own senses were telling me.  
  
Ordering every single insect out of a single room was trivial. I was of course watching every approach to that room - again, I'm no idiot. Besides, I needed to know when Missy arrived so I could handle the rest of the setup. But I was making an effort not to see myself.  
  
Everything I left out was a message. Everything was something I had used on her before.  
  
Everything was something I wanted her to use on me.  
  
I had to laugh when I saw the disgusted look Missy gave to the Vista costume I had left for her. I got the impression that she was a bit of a fan of the young ward. Actually, it would probably be a bigger surprise if a girl her age who grew up in Brockton Bay wasn't a bit of a Vista fan. Besides, given what I was doing, I was hardly in a position to complain.  
  
Vista was coming for me. To tease me? Punish me? Play with me? Maybe, somehow, to reward me? I didn't know what would happen.  
  
And it was really turning me on.  
  
But even though I was trying not to think about it, I knew the moment of truth wasn't here yet. Missy might not want me like this. Might not be willing to take on this role with me. Might even revile me for it, if I was very unlucky.  
  
I probably shouldn't be getting turned on even more imagining that.  
  
**Missy**  
  
I went upstairs. I might have been tempted to snoop around, even if I knew it was way too risky. But what I saw there blew any thoughts of spying completely out of my mind. I'd finally found Skitter, in considerably more of her glory than I'd seen before. The ropes holding her in place weren't nearly as elaborate or restrictive as what she'd done to me, but that wasn't surprising, since she'd probably done it herself. Her mask was missing, but the blindfold - silk, obviously - contrasted interestingly with her skin. And some thoughtful soul had placed a number of toys on a table nearby, though I noticed at least the flogger was missing. That would be too much to start with, right?  
  
Let it not be said that I couldn't put two and two together and get four eventually. If you spelled it out enough times.  
  
Maybe drew a few big circles around it with a highlighter just to make sure.  
  
Vista had captured Skitter. Vista was now leering over their captured rival, although the stripping seemed to have already been done for her.  
  
And it was surprisingly easy to imagine what I, Vista, could do to a captured Skitter, making her pay me back for all the trouble she had caused. Old fantasies that had never quite felt right suddenly had new life breathed into them. And more joined them. After all, hadn't Skitter herself shown me so many things?  
  
**Taylor**  
  
With the way I had my sentries positioned, Missy could see me before I lost sight of her. I could see when she realized what was going on. I could see the moment when uncertainty was replaced by desire.  
  
And then I couldn't see her anymore.  
  
I didn't know what she was going to do.  
  
I wasn't ready for what she was going to do.  
  
I couldn't be ready for what she was going to do.  
  
“Vista?” I called out, the quaver in my voice not entirely feigned.  
  
I didn't think I'd been this wet in my entire life.  
  
**Missy**  
  
I stumbled forward. My legs felt like they weren't working right.  
  
If I started spanking her, would she try to pull away, or to hold still and take it? What would she sound like? If I put the dildo in her ass, would it make her feel as good as she had made me feel? If I shoved her face into my pussy, made her eat me out, what would that feel like?  
  
I wanted to find out. I wanted to do those things with Skitter.  
  
I wanted to do everything with Skitter.  
  
And I could.  
  
I could do whatever I wanted with her.  
  
Wasn't that what the message meant?  
  
Vista had captured Skitter.  
  
Vista.  
  
Captured.  
  
Skitter.  
  
I didn't even notice as I fell to my knees.  
  
**Taylor**  
  
I couldn't see.  
  
I heard something thud against the floor.  
  
I wasn't looking.  
  
And then Missy started screaming and it all went out the window.  
  
Checking the room took only moments. The only thing that had changed was her arrival. There was nothing here that would hurt her. No one else had entered the room, it was just the two of us.  
  
The only one who could be hurting her was me.  
  
It scared me. I was the one tied up, and yet I'd done this to her. And I didn't know how. There was something I was missing.  
  
I wanted to reach out to her, comfort her, but I couldn't. I could get myself free, but I couldn't do it fast enough!  
  
**Missy**  
  
I don't know how long I just sat there and screamed. If I thought I'd been panicked by what Taylor had done to me, it was nothing compared to being scared for her.  
  
And then I felt something.  
  
A butterfly had landed on my cheek and was fluttering it's wings against me. The touch was so light I almost didn't notice it, but so unexpected that it was enough to break me out of the spiral my thoughts had fallen into. And Taylor was calling for me.  
  
"Missy! Missy, what's wrong?"  
  
I half-ran, half-stumbled over to Taylor and threw my arms around her, burying my face in her hair. I was babbling now, but I couldn't help myself. "Taylor. Taylor! Oh god."  
  
**Taylor**  
  
I'd gotten one arm free, but the angle was awkward. I did the best I could.  
  
"I want to be with you, but I shouldn't! I should want to capture you, but I can't! I love you, but I hate the things you do!" Missy's tears were hot against my neck. "Why? Why couldn't we both be heroes? Why does it have to be this way!?"  
  
“I... don't understand...”  
  
I didn't understand?  
  
No, maybe I just didn't want to understand. As long as I didn't have to admit it, I could...  
  
I could feel Missy tugging at the blindfold, pulling it off, gentle hands turning my head to face hers.  
  
"I'm Vista."  
  
Those words... they should have been a proud declaration.  
  
Not a broken-hearted wail.  
  
“I'm Vista!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taylor's biggest problem in the original story as I see it, and as I've tried to show from a slightly different angle here, is that she hasn't quite fully processed that she needs to talk to Missy about things before she starts doing them. Things could have gone a lot worse if, say, Missy had turned out to be freaked out by sensory deprivation. Not telling Missy that the chastity belt was intended to control Taylor isn't great either, with how their expectations have gone out of synch.
> 
> And then there's the part where Taylor punishes Missy for masturbating. That whole sequence is just Issues City. (I'll get back to this later.)
> 
> And just about everything has been "in the heat" as it were, which can definitely make things more coercive.
> 
> But Taylor's starting to realize how much things can go wrong with this approach. At least here in omake land. (And, as of 6.5, she's picking things up in canon too! Yayifications! Though it means that conversation didn't happen here in omake land. Boo. )
> 
> One of my major goals here was to not have Missy and Taylor's tastes not be complete reflections of each other. The way a lot of porn treats "dominant" and "submissive" as two and only two available combo platters, instead of as two giant buffets* to pick and choose from, strikes me as both unrealistic and boring. They're still very compatible though, because I'm nice.
> 
> *In a room full of giant buffets. And some items are on multiple buffets. And people disagree on just why any given item on a buffet is worth eating. Okay, this metaphor got away from me.
> 
> The perspective switching gave me some trouble here. I wanted to have the reader first see Missy's surprises at the same time she did, but some parts didn't cooperate with me.
> 
> Maid-and-Switch - This was in fact my first idea for a title, but it seemed too on-the-nose. During most of production I called this "Double-Edged Maid". Then I realized how well the double meaning really fit and changed it back.
> 
> It might be a little unconventional - Do you know how rare it is in superheroine/supervillain porn for the heroine to be on top? Pretty damn rare, I tell you.
> 
> Put on the costume - Taylor's not acting very submissive right now, is she? But I don't think she's thinking in terms of being dominant here either. More like she's the director telling everyone where to stand before the cameras roll.
> 
> They seemed to be moving more slowly than usual for some reason. - What Missy didn't notice that every single one was facing away from the stairs up. Taylor's trying hard not to see herself right now, even if there's almost certainly no way she could see into her bedroom from the second floor. (This essentially came about because I was originally imagining that message appearing on the third floor, but decided not to remove the detail when I shuffled things around. Honestly, I've never felt like I've had a good grasp of the architecture in Skitter's base here.)
> 
> considerably more of her glory - Yeah, Missy has seen Taylor naked before, but this is different. Also, I seem to be suspiciously attached to phrases and puns using the word "glory".
> 
> the flogger was missing - I'm actually assuming that there's been at least a couple more steps between spanking and the flogger involved for Missy before, because otherwise, holy shit that's a jump based on what I know about the subject. (Which is, honestly, more than I ever wanted to know.) Well, if it was something like that rabbit fur flogger someone once linked me to that'd be different, but that was supposed to be not actually painful, so obviously it's not that.
> 
> Old fantasies - It did not completely escape my notice that Missy thinks she's "not any kind of dom" in chapter one, on the basis that daydreams of domming Glory Girl weren't so great. But from a later thought, she doesn't seem to be *attracted* to Glory Girl, which provides an obvious alternate explanation for the lackluster results. Also, I think "not having the same spark" is a much more positive reaction to the idea than Missy thinks it is - if you asked -me- to simulate something like that, the reaction would be a lot more hostile. Reacting to something the way Missy did, on the other hand, says you're on to something, the details just need work. Sometimes it takes just the right image for things to start making sense, even if you've technically been dreaming about it for years.
> 
> what I, Vista, could do to a captured Skitter - I couldn't resist going for the ironic echo here.
> 
> It scared me. I was the one tied up, and yet I'd done this to her. - It is, I have been led to believe, a pretty common problem for people to underestimate how much emotional stress domming can place on someone. Though the problem here is less that and more that Taylor accidentally pounded on the Trauma Button.


	4. What kind of submissive is Missy, anyway? (Informational)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was originally going to be part of the notes for something I've got partly written. But after some other discussion, some thinking about it, and some the size of it getting away from me, I've decided to post it now on it's own.
> 
> To some extent this is me theorizing/commentating about what I'm getting out of MtS, and to some extent it's me talking about what I'm using as the basis for things that happen in MtSA. I'll be writing more like I'm talking about the latter than the former though, since the grammar is much, much simpler. Some parts are specifically my-writing related, but it should be obvious when that's happening.
> 
> Also, expect a lot of links to The Pervocracy when I start getting serious like this, because that site is a very large part of why I can handle BDSM-related anything without running screaming into the night.
> 
> (This might seem like an odd thing to shove into the middle of a fiction archive, but I think this is important to understanding what I'm going for in future chapters, so I don't want it to be exclusive to QQ members.)

So the big question here is - what kind of submissive is Missy, anyway?  
  
Well, some of her thoughts in chapter 6 sound like she's heading for the Perfect Porn Submissive. Lay back, give up control entirely, and just let Taylor do things to her.  
  
I swear, it's like watching paint peel. Lead-based paint, because in RL I'm pretty sure this would set off some serious alarm bells. [Also, that doesn't actually make for very good bottoming.](http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2013/03/bottom-skills.html) (Yeah, there's some stuff to unpack between submissive vs. bottom vs. masochist vs. some other things here too, but I'll probably get into that later. If not necessarily with those exact terms. Or in this post.)  
  
Oh, and also she's on every chance to take control of the situation like bees on people Skitter doesn't like. Wait, what?  
  
Well, what else am I supposed to call her convincing Taylor to punish her for -something Taylor told her to do-? (Other than "insane troll logic".) And then she goes full Rum Tum Tugger on the ropes afterwards. Removing them. No, not now! Okay, removing them now. No, I'll remove them! And there's some other things I could probably point to as examples, but these really stuck with me. (Especially since otherwise that whole thing pounds hard on my Unfairness Button.)  
  
Then there's the previous times that she's unhappy about giving up control, and not in a "this is bad, but it feels so good*" way, but a "this is bullshit, why am I putting up with this?" way. And the way sometimes she's rationalizing how she doesn't really like this and is just doing it to gather information, and sometimes she's rationalizing how she totally likes this and everything's perfectly okay...  
  
*Worth noting that this would also be an entirely valid reason to not want to do something. (Along with all the other reasons. Like Cliff Pervocracy often says, "No" is a complete sentence.) "This feels good, but cultural/social expectations are getting in the way of my enjoyment" may be something you woulnd't want to rule you forever, but that doesn't mean you want to try to push through that right -now-. Or sometimes that feeling is actually some part of you trying to say that you're actually, seriously, not okay with something that's happening, and it's a really good idea to think about how you can get the good parts without the bad. Not that it's always easy.  
  
Well, when I put it together I get someone who's desperately trying to convince herself that she's not already a long ways outside of her comfort zone, largely driven by her fear of getting outed. Conflicts between her ideas of "Skitter, dangerous parahuman I am spying on" and "Taylor, nice person I enjoy spending time with" are probably in there too.  
  
Well, Missy's out to Taylor now, and like-this-is-really-a-spoiler, Taylor's not going to kill her or subject her to other terrible fates, and things are going to get shaken out. So what does that change about what submissive Missy does with dominant Taylor?  
  
Anywhere from everything to nothing, of course. I've got my own plans for how things will go, what things will stay or go from the menu (or be "maybes") once they get talking, but there's nothing they've done that's actually incompatible with Missy having more control over things even before dominant Missy comes into the picture. Except it should be way more fun for both of them unless Taylor is kind of a shitty abusive dom. (Spoiler: I am not going to write Taylor as a kind of shitty abusive dom.)  
  
So, what kind of submissive does that make Missy?  
  
It makes her the Missy kind of submissive. Unique and precious. She's not "more" or "less" submissive than some theoretical ideal. [This isn't an escalator.](http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-sexcalator.html) It doesn't make her a "better" or "worse" submissive, what does that even mean? Oh wait, this contributes to both of them having more mutually enjoyable sex. So better does apply, yay!  
  
So, while we're at it, what kind of dom is Taylor?  
  
Well, I've previously established "not kind of shitty and abusive", but I'm looking for something more affirmative. A postive, not a lack of a negative.  
  
This is the part that's just absolutely _delicious_. Taylor's complicated, she's got a lot of things going on, but there's this recurring thing where she seems to be trying to figure out what Missy wants, then give it to her, and enjoy seeing her enjoying it. And she comes across as noticably getting an extra spark whenever Missy gives her any sort of cues.  
  
Why, I do believe our Miss Hebert is a bit of a service top**! And that's just _awesome_ for me, because I can -actually kind of relate to that-! And it's even better I'm not sure I've even heard of porn that acts like this is a thing that exists!  
  
**Er, I'd note that this term seems to have a bit of a checkered reputation in the kink community. My use is informed by the two people commenting [here](http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2013/03/bottom-skills.html) who identify it as something they do and enjoy doing.  
  
So, how's that tie into where I'm going with this?  
  
Well, when I have Missy or Taylor reject something that they've already done, I'm trying to base that on signals I'm getting from the original text. This is open to interpretation and possibly changing my mind if I decide someone else's interpretation makes more sense. I'll get into this more when I post the stuff where I write about it happening.  
  
That's separate from what I'm likely to write about. There's things I'm into. There's things I'm not into but can simulate well enough that I can (when reading) get an emotional charge off of and (when writing) actually write about. (Given inspiration, but that applies to the first category too.) There's things I just don't get enough to do anything with. Missy and Taylor can be assumed (or may even be stated!) to be doing some of this in the background, but detail is likely to be sparse.  
  
Then there's the stuff that I'm "allergic" to - things that have such a corrosive effect on my thinking that, as a fanfic writer who has to look out for her own safety just as much as tops and bottoms do, I have to go "this isn't part of my story, even if I'm not actually writing about it happening, because it being there will make me so upset that I can't enjoy writing in this universe".  
  
You might've seen that before. It was posted under the name "Resonance Cascade". It isn't going to be the last example of this. Although I don't, presently, see it coming up with Missy and Taylor...


	5. Acceptable Compromises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during (and slightly modifies) Maid to Serve chapter 3.

“Right,” Parian said, coughing. “This is a chastity belt. Padded on the inside, so it doesn’t wear on your hips. But still tight enough that there’s no way anybody is getting any unauthorized relief.”

She wasn't exactly thrilled about showing the belt off like this. She valued Lily's privacy too much for that.

But they'd both agreed that under the circumstances it was better than Parian hiking her dress up and showing off the one -she- was wearing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, about that "allergic" thing.
> 
> I have chastity belt related baggage. Along with all my other baggage.
> 
> The way Taylor thinks of the chastity belt as a way for Missy to control her (and I think she's serious about that) isn't sexy to me, but it's interesting. I can work with it as both a reader and an author.
> 
> With Lily and Sabah though, what we've been shown of them evokes things I can't work with. Even when I'm not going to be writing anything about them myself. I think I spent at least an hour at work a couple nights ago just stewing over the whole thing. And that's not good for me or this story.
> 
> So, now they've got a different dynamic in this universe. How's that work anyway?
> 
> I don't know! Isn't it great? I've never seen anything like it before, so it doesn't have any negative associations for me. I can just note that they're quite happy with that part of their lives, and move on!


	6. Maid You Look

**Taylor**  
  
Somehow, we made it downstairs. Both of us had taken the time to change into our regular clothes. Missy was still stopping to glare at where she'd thrown the offending outfit.  
  
I guess it wasn't surprising that she'd be put off by the thing.  
  
Missy. Vista. Missy is Vista.  
  
I'm such an idiot.  
  
**Missy**  
  
I curled up on the couch, arms around my knees. I kept glancing over at Skitter, but she didn't say anything.  
  
Finally, it was too much for me to take. "Well? Aren't you going to..."  
  
"To what?"  
  
I waved one hand vaguely in the air. "Yell at me. Try to recruit me. Cover me in bees. I don't know."  
  
Skitter looked me in the eye. "Do you want to be recruited? Do you want to be a villain? Or do you think you can still accomplish something as a hero?"  
  
If this was a test, I had a feeling I was about to fail it. "... No. Even if things aren't what they once were... I still believe in it. In the things heroes should be doing."  
  
"Then hang onto it, and don't let anyone take it away from you." Skitter nodded, before looking away. "Not even me."  
  
What?  
  
**Taylor**  
  
I'm sure most people who knew my reputation as the great and mighty Skitter would expect me to be angry at Missy.  
  
Hah. If only it were that easy. For that matter, I was sure the PRT would have told her about this.  
  
I'd been where she was. The details were different, but the broad strokes were there. She wanted to be a hero. She went undercover with some villains. And then she found that they weren't quite what she expected.  
  
Maybe Missy's story would end better than mine had.  
  
Of course, if I really wanted to make that happen, I'd try to run her off right now. Maybe by covering her in bees, even.  
  
But I couldn't do that. Because I loved her.  
  
Don't think I'm too naive. I knew that part of that was just the sex. And the sex had been incredible. Even the sex we hadn't actually managed to have.  
  
But I was also pretty sure that if it was just pleasure, that I would be entirely capable of using her and tossing her aside when it became inconvenient. Here's your last day's pay, keep the ladybug for old time's sake, don't come back.  
  
It hurt even to imagine that. If she decided to leave, I wouldn't try to stop her. But I couldn't deliberately drive her off either.  
  
Even if she was working with the PRT. I couldn't even bring myself to care about that.  
  
... Wait a minute.  
  
**Missy**  
  
And that's when Skitter started laughing.  
  
"What?"  
  
"When you started here... I put some things out on purpose to test you... but I decided you were clean... the only one who really accomplished anything was Vista... and I thought she'd just -" Skitter almost shrieked the last two words before she lost control again. "- gotten lucky!"  
  
I started laughing along with her.  
  
**Taylor**  
  
Finally we got ourselves back under control. I think we both needed that. But it was time to get serious again. "Do you still want to know?"  
  
"... know?"  
  
"You asked me some questions. I can't give you all the answers. There are things I don't know, and secrets that aren't mine to tell. And most of all I can't tell you 'why'. But if you want to know 'how' I'm not a hero... That I can tell you."  
  
This wasn't going to be easy to tell. But if I wanted there to be even a chance that Missy would stay with me... I had to do this.  
  
**Missy**  
  
There was really only one way I could respond to a story like that. "Wow. Armsmaster is a dick." It almost felt too flippant to respond that way, but... it really said it all.  
  
Taylor chuckled. "I get that a lot. It's not like he's always that bad, but... I can't help but feel that if I'd run into anyone else in the Protectorate that first night out, things might have gone differently." Then she added more quietly, "I'm not sure it wouldn't have been better if my first contact had been -Shadow Stalker-."  
  
That was a hell of a strong statement, given what she'd told me about Shadow Stalker. I hadn't really gotten along with the other girl - and by no means was I alone in feeling that way - but I never thought she was capable of anything like -that-.  
  
At this point some people would be saying I shouldn't believe anything she said. She was a villain, they were lying liars who lied.  
  
Those people probably hadn't been Wards members since before they turned eleven. I'd worked with or against a lot of the people she'd talked about, been involved in some of the same actions.  
  
Not everything quite fit, but that wasn't surprising. Memory was imperfect. -Enough- of it fit.  
  
It made some things Taylor had said before make a lot more sense.  
  
And it was enough that I could stop thinking about 'Skitter' and start thinking about 'us' again.  
  
Maybe I'd already made my decision even then.  
  
***  
  
"There's one thing I still don't get." That wasn't exactly true, but it was close enough for now. "When you put together that costume, why didn't you include my chastity belt?"  
  
Taylor seemed surprised by the question. "There didn't seem to be a point... I was going to be tied up, after all."  
  
What. "I think maybe you need to start at the beginning, because that didn't make any sense to me." How did that phrase go, I recognized all the words but they didn't make sense in that order?  
  
"Do you remember when I said I wouldn't touch your pussy unless you asked me?" I nodded. "I couldn't be sure I wouldn't get carried away and break my promise. So I got you something to keep me from doing that. I was surprised by how cute you looked in it... but that's not what it was for."  
  
"Let me see if I have this straight." Could I actually be hearing her correctly? "One of the first things you got me, as your submissive maid, was a way to make -you- not do something unless -I- told you to do it?"  
  
Taylor blinked. "... When you put it that way, I probably should have realized I wanted you to tie me up a lot sooner."  
  
I couldn't help it. I started laughing again. A bit hysterically, if I'm honest with myself. This put a different spin on a lot of things, and I wasn't quite sure how to take it.  
  
I needed some time to process all of this.  
  
"I... I'll come back later, okay? I need to go think."  
  
Taylor nodded. "Take your time." And if her voice sounded a bit hollow... I could relate.  
  
***  
  
It was almost dark when I returned to Skitter's lair, and stood there staring at the door.  
  
I'd gone through this door without hesitation many times as Skitter's maid.  
  
I didn't think I was Skitter's maid anymore.  
  
I didn't know what I was to Skitter-  
  
I didn't know what I was to -Taylor- now.  
  
I couldn't just walk through that door like nothing had changed.  
  
I wanted what was behind it too much to walk away.  
  
No, that wasn't true. 'What' was something I could get anywhere.  
  
I wanted -who- was behind that door.  
  
And then the door opened.  
  
**Taylor**  
  
It was, I felt, beneath my dignity as Skitter, Warlord of Brockton Bay, to sit around moping.  
  
So of course I was sitting around moping.  
  
There wasn't anything unusual about Missy not being here. I'd always known she had other demands on her time. And I knew a lot more about what those demands were now.  
  
But now it felt like there was a palpable void left behind where Missy had been. And there was a part of me that was sure, despite what she'd said, that she wasn't coming back. Maybe even that she shouldn't come back.  
  
It was a good thing we were in a quiet period right now. It was only the calm before the storm; we'd already gotten word of -another- gang of racist assholes that planned to try to move in on the Bay, because the Empire apparently hadn't given us -enough- of that shit for this life. But I'd appreciate the quiet for what it was; I didn't think I'd be much good to anyone right now.  
  
But I wasn't so out of it that I didn't notice immediately when Missy entered my range.  
  
She'd been crying.  
  
God, I'm such a piece of shit. I spent so much time time worrying about not hurting her body - at least not in any way she didn't want - and maybe I didn't do a terrible job at that.  
  
But I should have spent more time worrying about hurting her heart.  
  
When she arrived, she didn't come in, just stood there staring at the door.  
  
Oh well. I might as well go let her reject me in person. I owed her that much.  
  
***  
  
"I still want to be with you."  
  
I tried to keep my face neutral - being a supervillain gave me a lot of opportunities to practice that skill - but inside I was nearly ready to faint with relief.  
  
_I was still wanted._  
  
_I wasn't rejected._  
  
_I'm not going to be alone!_  
  
I was completely failing at holding back tears. But at least I didn't miss what she said next.  
  
"But I can't go on the way we were anymore."  
  
I nodded. "Do you want to come in and talk about it? I've got takeout." Oh god, that was completely inane.  
  
But it got me a smile. "Yeah. I am hungry."  
  
***  
  
It felt kind of funny, seeing Missy sitting there at the kitchen table while I set out the red-and-white containers, then got out the plates and utensils.  
  
When we'd eaten here before, Missy had served the food. Because she was my maid.  
  
Emphasis on 'was'. I couldn't rely on things being that way anymore. Especially since I was starting to think that hadn't been such a good way to do things to begin with.  
  
And the food still tasted just as good when I set the table. I suppose there was a metaphor in that too.  
  
Also, Missy seemed to be able to consume a nearly infinite amount of sweet & sour pork.  
  
***  
  
By the time we finished talking, it was well past sunset.  
  
Hah, "finished talking". We'd barely begun that. But at least we'd defined the goal.  
  
All the good parts of what we'd had before, and none of the bad. Easy, right? We'd get right on that, once we figured out which parts were good and which were bad. Just how much of what I'd thought Missy had loved had been tainted by her fear that I would attack her?  
  
But the bright spot in all of it was that we'd both agreed that there was something here worth salvaging.  
  
And it wasn't Skitter having a maid.  
  
Okay, where was I?  
  
Oh yeah. It was dark out.  
  
I knew Missy wasn't just any girl. She could handle a lot more than just a dark night in what I made sure was a relatively safe territory. But I still didn't want to send her out in it tonight.  
  
(I don't want her to leave me.)  
  
"Missy? Do you want to stay here tonight? Not to sleep together, just to... sleep... um..." I stopped myself before I could finish that sentence with "together". Yeah, that'd sure gotten away from me fast.  
  
But she seemed to understand. "I'd like that," she'd said, before going off to make arrangements.  
  
I wasn't listening in, but it was obvious she had mixed feelings about results of the call - glad to get what she wanted, but unhappy that whatever parent she was talking to didn't care more about what she was doing.  
  
Given what we'd already done together it sounded almost absurd to say that I shouldn't try to talk to her about her family, but I was pretty sure I shouldn't try to talk to her about her family. Not yet.  
  
I wondered if she would like to meet Dad? It was probably too soon for that too. For both of us.  
  
***  
  
As I laid there in the dark next to Missy, I was starting to regret inviting her to stay.  
  
Even though it had been my idea, I really hadn't been entirely happy having Skitter's maid in my room. I wouldn't have punished her for it if she hadn't asked - if it'd been a mistake, I was the one who had made it, and I'd own that. But I still hadn't been happy.  
  
But having Taylor's girlfriend here?  
  
Yeah, I was starting to regret inviting Missy to stay. Because it felt so good and right that I wasn't sure I could handle being alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, necrolectric. Looks like I couldn't bring the WAFF after all. I'm actually getting a little concerned about how easily the angst flows, since it's not something I'm a fan of as a reader.
> 
> But when I look at things with even moderate seriousness (and that seems to be what I've put myself here to do), there's some serious "This isn't BDSM, this is abuse. You need to get out now." flags going on.* And that's clearly not what Taylor wants their relationship to be. But that's not enough to make things not actually bad. Taylor -should- feel like shit once it hits her. And that's going to leave her a bit fragile emotionally.
> 
> *Stuff that would be fine as a fantasy, but I just can't read it that way. Simulated!Masochist!Morgan wants her pain in a far different package, and Simulated!Top!Morgan doesn't get the feedback she wants from it. And so here we are.
> 
> I hope it seems reasonable for there to be a delay between Taylor hearing "Missy thinks I might attack her" and Taylor going "oh fuck, Missy has been afraid of me attacking her -all this time-". Because I wrote the conversation between those two things first, and there was too much good stuff in there to throw away. It feels reasonable to me anyway. I have delayed reactions like that sometimes.
> 
> Next chapter will be a lot more fun. I can't promise no angst spots (because stuff I've already written has a couple angst spots), but not like this. I don't think I could forgive myself for two chapters in a row like this.
> 
> I'm such an idiot. - Originally Taylor thought "I'm no fool" when thinking about safety precautions, but I changed it for the ironic echo.
> 
> if I'd run into anyone else in the Protectorate that first night out, things might have gone differently. - I once saw someone on reddit saying that there was WoG saying that Armsmaster was actually one of the better options. I'm not so sure. It's not just the initial meeting, he seems to keep doubling down every time they interact. Either way, Taylor has no basis for comparison. Whether she's right or wrong, it's easy to feel like he's just the worst possible option. (I think I would like to see what a story would look like where Assault showed up instead of Armsmaster though...)
> 
> pussy - I always feel absurd using that particular euphemism. If I wasn't working with existing dialogue, I'd probably try to use something else. If I could find any other term that didn't feel either just as absurd or too clinical. Bah.
> 
> I didn't think I was Skitter's maid anymore. - My original notes just had Taylor moping a bit, then Missy knocking at the door instead of coming in, with some notes about places I needed to fill out. Then I typed this sentence, and ohshit there goes the angst siren.
> 
> But I should have spent more time worrying about hurting her heart. - This line is adapted from a critique I never actually posted of the manga Nana to Kaoru (or earlier parts of same), whose characters I felt had similar issues (worse in some areas). Except I was a lot more pissed off at that work because people were characterizing that as "how to do BDSM right" which is just No.
> 
> takeout - For some reason, I felt this scene required Americanized Chinese food before I even came up with the rest of the details.


	7. Kiss and Maid Up

It hadn't been an easy process, but Missy and I were in a much better place now. For one thing, we'd both admitted to ourselves that what we had wasn't an employer/employee relationship, not supervillain and minion, not spy and target.

We were girlfriends. Lovers.

But Missy was right - we couldn't go on like we had been either. We both had too many soft spots and sharp edges. We needed to seriously talk about what we wanted and what we could and couldn't handle, before one of us did something to seriously hurt the other.

Okay, I'll be honest. It probably would have been me hurting her. I'd already had nightmares about how close I'd come to driving her away, or worse. They'd probably be worse once I knew exactly how close to the edge I'd really gotten. But I'd take all the nightmares over having it happen for real.

Sometimes I felt like I must be the luckiest supervillain in the world, for her not to have rejected me already. But I knew all too well how easily luck could fail me. I couldn't afford to guess anymore.

I also had absolutely no idea how to go about this. So I resorted to desperate measures. Things I never would have considered if the cause were not so important and the need so great.

After Lisa stopped laughing in my face, she directed me to some websites, and I was enlightened. The answer was lists.

Lots and lots of lists.

And ice cream. The second site was very firm about the benefits of ice cream for couples like us, though I wasn't really sure what the point of some of the instructions was. But I knew we both liked ice cream, so why not?

Of course, we had some needs that this advice didn't cover. Like "how to handle a relationship between an outed villain and a hero".

Who already knew about Missy being Vista, and who was likely to figure it out, were major questions.

Lisa, of course, knew, but despite what her cape name might lead one to believe, she knew how to keep secrets as well as how to spill them. She'd decided to demonstrate the first point by refusing to tell me when she'd identified Missy, much to my irritation.

As for Lily... well, we'd have to have a talk with her. She'd almost certainly make the connection sooner or later, so it was better if we got out in front of it.

Actually... those looks she and Parian had been giving us...

***

"You!" I shoved Lily back against the wall of the shop. "Did you know that Missy and I were both switches?!" I was ready for anything she could say or do in response.

Except for her kissing me.

"Well of course," she purred. "After all, you're the queen of the underworld."

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense-" is all I managed to get out before she claimed my lips again.

While Missy and Parian claimed the rest of me.

~~~

I shook my head. No! That definitely wasn't going to happen!

Aisha presented a different set of issues, but then she usually did. I didn't think she'd do something to hurt Missy without talking to me or Lisa first.

Mess with her, yes. But not hurt her. Probably still ought to warn her about that.

The "white hats" might be a bigger problem. I'd known a number of heroes over the years that were a cut above the rest. People who would care more about whether Missy was safe and happy than that she was shacking up with a villain. Pity that there was only one I was sure would respond that way based in Brockton Bay. Anyone else, and probably the best we could hope for was her being bounced from the Wards.

So we also had a "Safety and Security" list, of things that we needed to do to either keep our relationship secret or to minimize the damage if the secret came out. Things like me not trying to send information to the PRT via Missy. Even if we had common enemies - and we did quite often enough - it could still get her labeled a villain and arrested if they decided I was using Missy as a catspaw.

There were more personal things on the list as well.

Ball gags were pretty much off the table for now, cute or no cute, and things weren't looking good for the hood either.

We needed a lot more practice with verbal communication before we started trying to rely on nonverbal.

***

Missy looked up from the page she was reading. "Taylor, were you actually upset that time you caught me masturbating?"

I frowned. It seemed like I should have been, but I wasn't quite sure why that was.

Then I groaned. "I got too into the role, didn't I?" I'd already spent some time online looking for... inspiration... by then. And it was a pretty common theme. _No masturbating._ And I'd ignored my own desires to do it. Because even when everything else was stripped away, I really liked watching Missy cum.

"I liked some of what we did after that... but I didn't like the way it made me feel." Missy turned away. I could just barely hear her...

"I was terrified you or Tattletale had found me out, and you were going to kill me."

I hugged her. Never mind that the spoon she'd been holding was smearing ice cream on my shirt. I could buy a new shirt.

Was this why the page that suggested bringing ice cream had said to bring extra spoons? Maybe I should have brought some more up with me.

**Missy**

It took me a little while to relax. I wasn't afraid that she would kill me anymore, but that day was still hard to remember.

"... Tattletale." I felt Taylor pull one of her arms away from me, and... did she just slap herself on the forehead? "Dammit, I was the one who was really breaking the rules that day, wasn't I? I'd said I wouldn't share you with anyone. I said right then and there that I wouldn't show you off to the rest of the Undersiders. And then I go ahead and do exactly that."

"Other people seeing me might actually be kind of hot... I just wasn't happy about it being Tattletale." I paused. "Parian and Foil was pretty weird... And I don't think Charlotte was happy about running into me like that either." Wait, wasn't that everybody? "I think maybe I need to think about this some more."

**Taylor**

This called for more ice cream. I handed Missy a fresh spoon, then got a bite myself. "If it helps, Parian and Foil were probably trying to tease me more than anything else. And even if I imagined having a foursome with them once I really don't think they're actually interested in either of us. But I should probably stay outside if she needs to measure you again." That wasn't going to go down as Taylor Hebert's finest day, that was for sure. "I should probably apologize to Charlotte too." She'd accepted my relationship with Missy, yeah, but she definitely hadn't liked the way I'd sprung it on her.

Hmmm. We'd gotten a bit distracted from the original question, hadn't we. "Do you want to masturbate when you're with me?"

Missy hunched over a bit again. "... it feels like I lost something, somewhere in there." I didn't think she was talking about just the act of engaging in self-pleasure. There was something more involved here.

It wasn't exactly an answer to the question I asked, but looked at from another angle it seemed obvious - if she'd lost something, I should give it back.

I grabbed a blank sheet of paper, and labeled it 'Rules to break'. "How about this?" And underneath that 'Masturbating while working' before handing it over to Missy. "It's not actually bad if you do this, but I might punish you if I catch you. Or maybe reward you, if you put on a good enough show..."

Missy sat up and smiled at me, which made me feel like I'd come up with a right answer. "It'll give me something to do when you're gone." Missy giggled. "It's -boring- when you're not here, which is not something I ever thought I'd say about visiting a supervillain's lair."

"Don't like the TV?"

"The TV is great, too bad there's never anything good on. You don't have a DVD player, you don't leave your books downstairs often enough for me to read them. I couldn't really even -work- most of the time, because you don't actually leave things messy..." She sighed. "You never really needed a maid, Taylor."

I hugged her again. "Maybe I don't need a maid, but I do need you." Yes, it was sappy. I didn't care.

And that's when it happened. That's when she turned her most fearsome weapon on me.

No, not the space warping. That was tame by comparison.

The puppy dog eyes. "You need to get a DVD player!"

"Uh, I'm not sure I really need one here..."

Puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, I'll get a DVD player." I know how this story ends, okay?

"Yeah!" Missy thrust a fist in the air. "Next week, we're watching Tinkerbell!"

"Disney? Really?"

She was undeterred by my disdain. "Don't knock it until you've tried it!" Or maybe she knew something I didn't?

Then she pulled out a couple of lists I hadn't seen and scribbled something else down at the end. Wonder what that was about. Then she grabbed the 'Rules to break' sheet, labelled it 'Missy', and then started another like it with 'Taylor'. With nothing listed as yet.

Then she pointed back at the first sheet. "This rule does not apply to you." Missy's dominant side was coming out. It excited me even more because I hadn't really gotten used to it. "I haven't seen you masturbate yet. That's something that needs to happen."

I hope I never get used to it.

"But... I told you I'm not multi-orgasmic?" Wouldn't you rather make me cum yourself?

"Oh, you can try holding it back if you want." Her grin got a little more wicked. "Or you can just let loose, and then I'll start in on you. I wasn't multi-orgasmic either, until I was. Maybe you just need something... special."

My breath caught. I had to admit, I was jealous of how Missy could sometimes just keep cumming again and again. What Missy had already done for me was incredible, but I couldn't even imagine what kind of pleasure she was feeling then.

I wasn't sure she'd actually be able to make me feel that way, but there was no way I was going to stop her from trying.

**Missy**

Whew. That was been a bit intense. So I took another bite of ice cream. Huh, this pint was almost empty. Hopefully Taylor had some more downstairs.

Wait, that was reminding me of something.

Ice.

"The ice... might have been okay. At least a little. But I didn't like having to run to the bathroom to get rid of the water." Spanking with ice... I wasn't sure about doing that again. My emotions had been pretty scrambled at the time, but I wasn't sure that hadn't been the -bad- kind of hurt.

Maybe we could try it once. Without doing lines at the same time. I wasn't sold on -that- either.

While I was thinking, Taylor had pulled out the 'Things to research' list and added 'ice alternatives?' Then I noticed her face turning red. "I might like that."

"What?"

"You getting me all hot and bothered with the ice inside me, then having to run off, not knowing what you might have waiting when I get back..."

I imagined how that would make Taylor look and shivered. Maybe ice cream -wasn't- the best way to deescalate during -this- part of the conversation.

**Taylor**

I was going over Missy's 'wants' list again, when I noticed a line I'd missed before. Which was probably a sign I needed to read it a third time. "Costumes - see extra sheets?"

Missy dug around in her pile a bit, then handed over a list. Several pages worth of list. "Looks like you're really into this." I noted.

She fidgeted a bit. "I might have started designing my Vista costume three years before I triggered."

I had to laugh at that. "Well, as much as my reputation as a supervillain might have led you to believe that I'm made of money, there's no way I can afford to pay Parian to make all of these." Not that I usually paid her in money, but the point stood. "Also, if I showed this to her, she'd probably blacklist both of us."

"I'm not -that- picky!" Missy pouted. "I just didn't like the Vista costume you put together because I knew exactly how much of a piece of crap it was. These are all either themes that have a lot of room for variation, or ones I don't know well enough that I'd spot all the errors, so it's fine if they're basic. Then we can get good costumes if something really works for us."

"Okay, that's reasonable." I started reading in more detail. Missy had spent a lot of time on this, or maybe she'd just kept adding things as she thought of them while going through the others - I could see where she'd added 'Tinkerbell and Fawn' while we'd been talking, even. Most came with short scenarios and sometimes thoughts on submissive or dominant roles.

Yeah. Missy was -really- into costumes.

A few entries stood out. 'Nurse giving a patient their medicine' had either of us in the role of nurse, and either role as submissive. Definitely covering all the bases there.

The next entry was both of us as nurses. Well, we'd already have the costumes. And it said we should do this one when we're -both- feeling submissive. I wasn't quite sure how she was imagining that playing out, but I was certainly curious.

'Skitter/Vista roleplay' in any variation was in the 'No' section. I wasn't surprised. I still had it on my own 'Want' list, because everything I'd read had been very clear about not leaving things out just because you think you already know the answer it would get, but I wasn't surprised. The hurt was still too fresh, but maybe it wouldn't be forever. And it wasn't like we were short on other ideas to try, especially since she hadn't vetoed other forms of 'super' roleplay. Dressing as either of our colleagues would probably be too weird, but I wasn't interested in going that route anyway.

Though that did make me think of another question that Lisa's websites hadn't covered. "Hey, Missy, what about power usage?"

Missy gave me a look of complete incomprehension. "Power usage?"

"Like, when I had you tied up, could you have gotten out of that?"

"Yeah, since I'm not trying to hide anything from you anymore. When they were training us on it I couldn't get out of containment foam..." She made a sour face for a moment. I could understand. Containment foam was a fantastic tool, but it was -nasty- stuff to actually deal with no matter what side of the law you were on. "There's not much else that can stop me though. I'd even thought about warping handcuffs on and off my hands as a party trick, if I was ever in costume at a party where I could get away with it." She didn't sound like she'd ever actually expected that to happen.

I nodded. "Then how about, let's say, the superheroine Tesseract is captured and tied up by her archrival, but uses her awesome power over space and time to escape and turn the tables?"

"Tesseract... doesn't that sound more like a villain name?"

I shrugged. "Or whatever sounds good to you. Actually, I think I just want to see you warp out of the ropes. No bedroom things required."

"Do you honestly think that if you tie me up, and then I warp out of it, that one of us won't immediately pounce the other?"

"When you put it like that, no, not really."

**Missy**

"So, there's nothing about you as a dominant maid on here?" Taylor asked.

"Doesn't that actually seem kind of weird to you?" Maid equals submissive was such a strong association in my mind that I wasn't sure how I'd work around it.

Taylor shrugged. "There's a ton of porn for it. I'm not sure why I didn't run into it sooner, actually."

"I guess. But I'm not sure what kind of scenario would work for that."

Taylor struck a haughty pose. "Maybe... wealthy socialite Taylor Hebert needs a lesson on why she should be nice to the help?" Then she broke down giggling. "Just don't ask me to do the ojou laugh, I don't think I could take it."

I blushed. "I'll think about it."

**Taylor**

How had I missed this one? 'School uniforms - ABSOLUTELY NO D/S PLAY OF ANY KIND'.

It was then underlined several times.

That was a lot of emphasis, especially since Missy had never mentioned any school-related issues to me.

"Missy?" I pointed. "What's this about?"

She gave me the most serious look that I'd ever seen from her. It was the kind of face that reminded me that this girl had been facing down supervillains for years before I'd even triggered. "You -told- me what high school was like for you. Do you think that would be a good idea?"

I thought about it. Two horrific scenarios came to mind, with each one being worse than the other.

No, I don't care that that's a contradiction in terms, it's still true.

"No."

I didn't even realize that I'd tried to curl up in a ball and hide until I felt Missy's arms around me.

I'm pretty sure I was supposed to have ice cream now. Bah. I didn't need ice cream right now.

I just needed her to hold me until the shaking stopped.

**Missy**

"Feeling better?" I asked. Taylor looked better, anyway.

"Yeah. Thanks... I really didn't think that one through." Her smile was a bit wan, but I was still glad to see it. "Should we keep going?"

"Are you sure you're up to it?

She nodded. "Yeah. We're almost done anyway, right? Besides, we're talking about sex, that's got to be therapeutic." I wasn't quite sure I bought that, but making jokes was definitely a good sign, so I was fine laughing along with her.

Then she went back to my costume list. I was a bit disappointed that she hadn't come up with one of those of her own, but I was sure once we got going she'd come up with some good ones.

"Hey, Missy? I know you don't want to roleplay it, and I understand why, but... could I make you a Skitter costume? And Parian could make me a Vista costume? Just for fun?"

I couldn't do anything but stare when I heard that suggestion. It felt like I was blushing so hard that my -hair- should be turning red. "... I don't know if I should be -incredibly- turned on, or worried about my apparent narcissism."

"I vote for turned on."

"I thought you might." I hummed to myself for a moment. "Maybe when we go see Parian, we can get new panties for my maid uniform. The ones I've got are too loose."

Now it was Taylor who was stunned nearly speechless. "But... you...?" She made a vague gesture that might have been intended to allude to a chastity belt, or it could have been pretending to scratch a puppy behind the ears. You never know.

"Oh, that thing?" I smiled. "You don't need it any more."

Afterwards, we'd both agree that the other person had initiated the kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I got really talky about this one (and include some links), the notes for this will be posted in a separate chapter.


	8. Kiss and Maid Up - Notes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are my comments on chapter 7 ("Kiss and Maid Up"). If you haven't already read it, you should probably do so first, as without that this will probably not make sense and may contain spoilers.

In some ways, this feels a bit redundant with the "I’d done a lot of thinking last night after Missy left, and had come up with a lot of things to do to her. And, obviously, so had she. We had settled most of the questions" part at the end of chapter 2... except it doesn't seem like that actually -worked-, given later events. So they're getting another shot at things here.

I consulted a few different sources for discussion of actual consent negotiation while writing this, most notably the Pervocracy posts [How To Have Sex On Purpose](http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-to-have-sex-on-purpose.html#more), [Getting Negotiation Going](http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2013/02/getting-negotiation-going.html), and even a bit from [Sex Menu](http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2012/11/sex-menu.html).

If you're saying to yourself "That seems like a lot of things on one site," please see my previous comment about (not) running screaming into the night. Seriously, I've got some baggage with this stuff. Though there are other things I poked at too that I just don't have the links anymore.

However, what Missy and Taylor do here probably bears more resemblance to general brainstorming techniques. There's a few reasons for this. One, it feels natural to me, which made it easier to write. Other, I thought I could write something that would actually be fun to read this way.

Certain details are simplified. For instance, there are several possible meanings of "Maybe". Does it mean "I like this sometimes", "I don't know if I like this or not", or "I need to experiment with this before I decide whether or not I like it"? That's where the talking more part comes in. "Yes" could mean "I'm interested in this pretty much any time" or "I like it sometimes, but I've gotta be in the mood" or even "Yes, but if and only if I initiate it" or any of dozens of other things. Not that it'd be feasible to get every detail worked out in advance in real life either. But for the purposes of this story if a particular point starts mattering it'll be because I'm showing something with it in more detail anyway.

I won't claim that my own tastes haven't influenced what ends up on what lists here. For one thing, I don't think trying to keep that out would be any kind of virtue anyway. But anything that gets rejected I've tried to have take place for a reason that at least has some support in the original text. Even when it means Missy rejects something I like. (Yes, that happens at least once here.)

I'm not going to try to define everything they talked about or decision made here. That would be an extaordinarily non-productive exercise for a lot of reasons.

Kiss and Maid Up - Originally, that was going to be the name of the previous chapter, and -this- chapter would be "Maid You Look". Shortly before posting I decided they made more sense the other way around. (Also it seemed mean to give this title to a chapter that as I don't think contained any kissing.) This has made navigating my story folder more confusing, since the files are named by title rather than numbered...

It hadn't been an easy process - And may I just say how much I feel like I totally copped out not showing more of that. But the inspiration just would not come, and at some point I had to say "either I wallpaper around it best I can and put the story out, or it stalls here, which is better"?

It probably would have been me hurting her. - Taylor's selling her own vulnerability short, but at least she's not neglecting to talk about her own limits. Even if that's largely offscreen, due to a general lack of them getting run into on the way here. I see that as a bit of a deficiency for this chapter, but I don't want to start closing random doors for it's own sake either, so for now it's pretty much what it is.

couples like us - Specifically "couples who have screwed up and hurt each other but still want to try and make things work". The ice cream idea is that it both serves as a way to cool down if a particular point of discussion gets too intense (in either direction), and it also serves as a mood booster because hey, ice cream. Also it gives me something to have Missy and Taylor play with in a chapter that would otherwise be very talky.

the queen of the underworld - Recognize the source of this quote, get bonus points! (Bonus points can be redeemed for tokens, which are useless.)

Probably still ought to warn her about that. - We've already seen the results of this.

only one I was sure would respond that way - Miss Militia. Did you expect anyone else? Some of the Wards might be okay, but Taylor's not confident about them either way.

things weren't looking good for the hood either. - It's also on Missy's no list for now. This is not to suggest that everything that gets a safeword invocation should get noped, but it's sure a sign that there's things she needs to think about there. Also a bit too closely tied to an existential crisis moment for her right now.

(I'm gonna be honest and say that it's a bit of a me thing too. It's just too far outside of my comprehensibility range, because my body seems to work the exact opposite way. So while I expect it'll move over to her maybe list at some point, I won't be writing about it.)

masturbating - Whoo boy, this is complicated.

I'm gonna start by noting that the scene with Missy masturbating is probably the single hottest thing in the entire story for me, so, you know, I want more of that. But, as with the rest, I don't think this is just about that.

There's a big question here of "real rule or pretend rule"? Not sharing Missy was definitely supposed to be a real rule, and that's a problem because even if Missy might be okay with other people seeing but not touching, that's not something they'd talked about.

So imagine a world where Taylor had told Missy not to masturbate. Was that a real rule or a pretend rule? Well, if it was a real rule, then sexing it all up in response is a bad thing. But I think there's a pretty compelling case to be made that Taylor thought of it as a pretend rule, and is probably disappointed that she hasn't come home to Missy playing with herself again. (I would be soooo happy if in some quieter moment in MtS Taylor asks Missy "How come haven't I seen you masturbating again?" or something like that.)

Missy, on the other hand, definitely treats it like a real rule, and isn't particularly happy about it, but really isn't in a good headspace to even process it, because she's too worried about being outed and fed to the cockroaches. Which is not really Taylor's fault, she's not in possession of all the information. On the other hand, she could stand to be more careful about things as a result of the issue. She's essentially in a position of power over just about anyone within a fairly wide radius of her. That doesn't make consent impossible, but it means the risk of accidental coercion is higher and needs to be watched for. I really think Missy would have safeworded a couple times in there if it weren't for all of that.

Okay, back to MtS canon, where there's no sign that they had previously established not masturbating as a rule at all. Which just cranks the "this is a time for talk, not 'punishment'" up to eleven.

So that led to a few things. I started by giving Taylor an out. Her emulating porn without entirely thinking things through isn't especially good, but it's understandable and something they can work past. And they establish their first "pretend rule" - something that Missy can do as a subtle signal that she wants some punishment that day. There's also a way to signal that she's masturbating because she's horny and lonely and Taylor's not here. I just haven't decided how that's going to work exactly.

(It's possible that in that moment Taylor was subconsciously reading what Missy was doing as a deliberate "punish me" signal in that scene, but having her remember consciously thinking that would probably require rewriting a lot of stuff at this point. Tops can have mixed feelings they don't quite understand too!)

Though it's possible that the 'pretend rules' (but not the activities they're linked to) will drift out of their roleplaying later. That's stretching the boundaries of my "try to have things supported by the original" rule, but I'm coming up against "I'm not sure I can actually write this" from the other direction. We'll see.

And Missy will be reclaiming her me-time sexuality in general. (Something like what I think Ali Davis called "selfish sexuality", but I'm not sure that's a great term for it.) Because the way Missy sounded like she was trying to convince herself it wasn't a problem makes it sound like there's definitely a problem.

Wait, wasn't that everybody? - This was tricky. Missy definitely gets turned on by the idea of being seen, but seems to be most turned on by things that don't actually happen, with a lot of what does happen being tied up in things she doesn't like so much. So, yeah, she'll have to think about this some more. Of course, there's certainly ways they could have fun with it as a fantasy element without actually having the reality.

Parian and Foil were probably trying to tease me - If they're actually reacting to Missy in that scene, it starts feeling a little too nasty-stereotypes-about-lesbians to me. So here's an alternate interpretation. (For further exploration of this subject, see chapter 13 of Ack's Alea Iacta Est.) Although, as evidenced by Taylor's fantasy scene, I decided to play with it a little.

Rules to break - While the concept of "pretend rules" is not mine, I made up this particular label for it myself. (Missy has already been shown 'violating' one of these rules in Days. Did you see it?)

you don't leave your books downstairs often enough - Missy is aware that Taylor is fine with her being upstairs now, but hasn't fully internalized it.

Tinkerbell - I will defend to the death the principle that the Disney Fairies movies are perfectly suitable entertainment for persons of any age. Though actually, this choice was a bit process-of-elimination. First Disney title I could think of that I've seen and wouldn't maybe look like a hidden message. Missy probably would have picked Frozen, except should it even exist at this point?

'Things to research' - I don't necessarily endorse everything Missy and Taylor do here for people actually doing consent negotiation, since as said above a lot of this was based on story needs. But a specific way to note "we should look into this thing more before making decisions about it" seems like a really good idea to me.

Costumes - I might have gone a bit overboard with this. I'm not sure I can claim too much self-indulgence here though. Yes, I'm seriously into cosplay, but this is hard for me to write, and having something going on that I can better relate to made things easier. Also it makes for some nice hooks for other stuff. (Oh god, I just imagined Aisha and Missy dressing as Etna and Flonne. I hadn't -decided- if there was anything serious there. Thank you, NIS America advertising email, for showing me the true path.) Also, it gives them more time talking about things they -do- want, which the chapter kind of needed. Because if all you're coming up with is nos, then why are you here?

Tinkerbell and Fawn - I'm more of a Tinkerbell/Vidia shipper, but come on, Fawn is just perfect for Taylor.

Dressing as either of our colleagues - I couldn't really think of a non-awkward way to specify that this meant either of them dressed as any other hero or villain that they know or work with, but that's what it's supposed to mean. Even if, given the opportunity, I just might try to put them all in Tattletale costumes. (I'm not going to actually do this. (In this story.))

I couldn't get out of containment foam - Inspired by the scene where Missy tries and fails to do that in Mauling Snarks.

I just want to see you warp out of the ropes - Yeah, the author is totally projecting here.

Missy had never mentioned any school-related issues to me - *facepalm* Yeah, I wrote this, I think it's in character, but I still can't believe Taylor actually thought that.

I was sure once we got going she'd come up with some good ones. - I didn't even realize until I was doing final polish that Taylor in fact delivered right then and there.

narcissism - Add another thing to the "list of stuff Morgan keeps throwing in without really thinking about it". Mind you, I love costume swaps even when this wouldn't really apply.

You don't need it any more. - That does not mean that they won't ever use the chastity belt for play. It's just not a defining part of their relationship anymore.

Wow, that's a lot of notes. But, for a chapter where I tried to do a lot of more comedic stuff, there were some pretty serious things too. And that gets me talky.


	9. Maid to Order

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this, I'm 'caught up' to Maid to Serve (original flavor). For the most part I think it should be obvious how the altered timeline should line up, but please ask if you have any questions.
> 
> Given the expansion of the timeline and what Taylor's been doing in that period of time, the conversation between her and Parian in 6.5 is obviously quite different in MtSA. For one thing, this Taylor *did* ask the Mistress of All Knowledge. I'm not interested in rewriting their entire conversation, but the last section in this chapter does have a new version of part of it, since there's one new issue they need to address.
> 
> One or two issues.

**Missy**

So much had changed over the last week, and yet here I was again, changing into my maid costume. But it felt different. And in some ways, it just was different.

No chastity belt. Maybe another time.

Skitter hadn't had a chance to get replacement panties for me yet. That's okay. Didn't need them.

After I got the vibrators taped to my nipples, I flicked the controller up to low for a moment. Just to make sure my body was paying attention.

(After our conversation, Taylor had gotten one of her bugs to eat away the glue that she'd applied to it. Also, for some reason, she'd added new labels. Now, in addition to the manufacturer's markings for OFF and REMOTE, it had labels for LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH, and FUCK ME.)

(When I noticed that, I checked the remote. It was labeled similarly, except the top end was marked FUCK YOU.)

(The meaning of -that- seemed fairly obvious, but I still felt I was missing part of the joke.)

Skitter wanted a show?

I was going to give her one.

***

It was shameful how much I'd neglected my pussy since coming to work for Skitter. But it was an honest mistake. After the pleasure that she'd shown me I could get from my ass, why should I bother with anything else?

I'd stopped feeling that way about ten seconds after Taylor's hand went inside my panties.

But then, it had been Skitter who had shown me how good my nipples could feel. If I spent enough time with her, would my entire body become one huge erogenous zone?

The thought made me shiver, or maybe that was the vibrators that I'd turned back on. I was already spoiled for opportunities with the erogenous zones I had, wasn't I?

I'd already been wet even before that. Because I knew exactly what I was going to do. Sometime in the future, I might be Skitter's good little maid again. But today, I was going to be her very, very, -naughty- little maid. Maybe I would get punished for that. (And just thinking that sent it's own thrill through me.) But with Skitter, sometimes being naughty was just the right way to be good. So maybe today I was going to be very, very good.

Are you watching me already, Skitter?

It took a little juggling, but I was able to start lubing up my ass while I gently stroked my pussy. Of course I wasn't going to leave my ass out of things. Bouncing up and down on the dildo had been good before. I wanted to do it again. And I didn't care how much of a mess I made.

(There was a part of me that wanted to grab a -second- dildo and really give myself the works. But I wasn't sure I was ready for double penetration yet. No matter how much it turned me on thinking about it.)

There was no moment of overwhelming intensity as I lowered myself onto the dildo. I knew better than to just slam myself down right at the beginning now (even if I kind of wanted to). And I'd gotten used to larger toys since then as well. Though this one certainly didn't make me feel loose. It was just easier.

Even if Skitter decided to punish me, she wouldn't stop me before I came. So there was no reason to hold back.

And I wasn't going to stop after cumming just once.

***

It was hearing something fall over that shook me out of my trance.

I'd lost track of how many times I'd cum. The vibrators on my nipples, the dildo in my ass, my fingers in my pussy and on my clit, those feelings had all smeared together until it felt like I really had become one huge erogenous zone.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Skitter, with her mask off. How long had she been watching?

She looked like she was in almost as much of a haze as I had been. That made me think she'd been watching a good long time.

Finally, she found her voice. "Wow," she whispered. "I'm pretty sure I should reward you now, but I'm afraid you'd pass out."

She wasn't wrong. I wasn't completely exhausted, but I didn't have enough left in me for anything really strenuous.

What should a naughty maid do in a situation like this?

When I put it that way, the answer was obvious.

It was time to give my mistress exactly what she wanted.

**Taylor**

I'd only seen Missy masturbate once before. It had been a definite turn-on, even if I hadn't really known how to respond to it at the time. I'd made mistakes that nearly cost me all my chances to see such a wonderful thing again.

Still, I'd seen Missy cum a lot since then. I thought I knew what to expect.

I hadn't been prepared for what seeing Missy so totally throw herself into self-pleasure would do to me. It was different from seeing Missy cum from what I was doing with her, but it was just as incredible to watch. And it didn't even feel like I was being left out, because she'd done so much to make it clear that she wanted me to enjoy this too. I hadn't been entirely serious when I talked about "putting on a good enough show"... but Missy had taken that and delivered.

I wanted to show her just how much I appreciated that. But what could I do that wouldn't be too much?

Missy licked her lips. "I have an idea for how you can reward me," she said.

"W- what?" Why was I trembling?

Missy smiled. It was a beautiful, sweet smile. It was also very palpably -demanding-. "Why don't you give me a really good show?"

Oh god.

***

My costume hadn't been made to be particularly easy or fun to get out of. In fact, I'd sometimes considered ways to make it harder to remove, at least for someone without my power, to make things harder for any enemy who managed to disable me. So far, the risk that my -allies- might not be able to get it off me in an emergency had dissuaded me from that course. But it still wasn't easy.

I was pretty sure that watching me take my costume off wouldn't be particularly -sexy- either. But you couldn't tell it from the way Missy watched me.

"Taylor, do you play with your ass when you masturbate?" Missy asked.

"I do... sometimes." I'd only thought of trying anal with Missy because I'd played that way a little with myself, after all. I'd done it more since I'd met her. Seeing how good it made her feel had made it even hotter for me.

(I wondered how Missy would have reacted if I'd told her to fuck -my- ass with a strapon, back before things changed between us. I should ask her sometime. Either to tell me how she'd have reacted, or to do it.)

I could read between the lines. I grabbed the bottle Missy had left nearby and started lubing myself up. It didn't take long to transition from that to fingering my ass.

I wouldn't be able to come just from this, but I was fine just teasing myself for a while.

"(oh wow)," Missy whispered. This would be her first time seeing this from the outside, wouldn't it? "Do you just finger yourself?"

"No," I moaned. I was going faster now, but it wasn't enough. "More. I need more."

Missy stood up, and I could see the end of the dildo that she hadn't actually taken out yet dangling between her legs. "It's a good thing I have something here for you to use then."

Missy wanted me to take the toy out of her... and use it on myself? That was so...

Dirty.

Obscene.

Incredibly arousing.

Missy moaned a little as I pulled the dildo out of her. And slid it inside myself without hesitation.

Hot. It felt so hot. This was just Missy's body heat. How could it feel like this just from being inside of her?

I'd started thrusting faster, and Missy's eyes never left me. Sometimes she was watching what I was doing to myself, and sometimes she was watching my face for my reactions, but she was always watching me. And it felt really good.

"Can you cum like that, Taylor? Can you cum from fucking yourself in the ass?"

I almost said no. I'd never been able to cum just from anal before. Normally I'd have already started playing with my pussy by now. "I- I don't know!" But doing this here, with Missy watching me, was feeling so good. "Maybe I can!"

Missy seemed satisfied by my answer. "Then cum however you need to, Taylor. Just cum for me."

I was pounding myself harder than I ever had before now. But it was no harder than I'd been with Missy, and she'd loved it. So I should be able to handle this too.

I didn't normally make a lot of noise when I came. But this time, when I came, I came loud. And Missy just seemed to be drinking it all in. If it were possible to cum just from watching someone, I'm sure she'd be doing it right now.

And then she got up and hugged me. "That was incredible, Taylor," she whispered. "You gave me a really good show."

**Missy**

We were both pretty messy after that, so we'd decided to take a shower together.

It wasn't a sexy shower.

Okay, so it was a little sexy. I wasn't sure you could be wet and naked with your lover and not have it be a little sexy. But we weren't trying to turn each other on or get each other off, we were both too close to our limits for that today. We were just enjoying the warmth, the closeness, being together.

I didn't think Skitter and her maid could have had this.

But Missy and Taylor could.

***

Finally, it was time to go. Both of us were going to be very busy tomorrow.

"You're going to be out with the Wards this weekend, right?" Taylor asked.

I nodded. "Miss Militia hasn't given us our final assignments yet. But we'll be out there somewhere." It wasn't exactly being indiscreet. The Brotherhood's arrival was going to bring out all kinds of forces on both sides of the law, and everyone knew it. Now, providing any details about where I was being assigned (if I'd even known), that would be against the rules. Still...

"I wish we could be out there together." I blurted out. I hadn't changed my mind about being a hero. But if we were fighting for the same cause, how come we couldn't do it side by side?

Taylor patted me on the shoulder. "Yeah."

There was a part of me that just wanted to stay here with her forever. But neither of us could do that. Instead I reached up, gently pulled her head down a bit, and kissed her.

When I'd done this a week ago, it had been a quick, almost perfunctory thing. I'd been full of uncertainty about what I was doing, why I was doing it.

This kiss was neither quick, perfunctory, or uncertain. But it still ended.

"Stay safe," she said.

"You too." I replied.

Neither of us was going to be safe.

But we were both going to do our damnedest.

**Taylor**

I was left feeling a bit melancholy after Missy had left.

Being out there together? That would be great.

But it wasn't going to happen. The forces of law and order, even the ones that weren't corrupt, could generally be counted on to ignore us on a weekend like this. We were the devil they knew, and when the devil they didn't was on it's way they would have other priorities. But this wasn't so big a threat that they would stand together with us over it either. It took something big to make that happen. Endbringers. The Slaughterhouse Nine. A few other major threats.

And so despite what I'd said, there was part of me that was happy that we wouldn't be fighting together. Because it meant we weren't facing anything quite that dangerous.

But beneath that, there was a deeper fear that neither of us had been willing to express aloud.

_At least we won't be fighting against each other._

I had enjoyed hurting Missy in the past. But only when I thought she wanted it. When I thought she would enjoy it. And I was starting to realize how much better it could be for both of us when I actually -knew- exactly what she wanted, what she would enjoy.

But no one could enjoy what Skitter did to her enemies.

I didn't hurt my enemies. I made them -suffer-. I wanted anyone who opposed me and walked away to live in terror of ever doing so again. And I was very, very good at doing that.

And Skitter could never do that to Vista now. Because Taylor loved Missy too much to even consider it.

If it came to a confrontation between the Wards and the Undersiders, Vista could easily focus on other targets without drawing attention - her powers were not an obvious counter to mine, and she could easily say she felt they were better used elsewhere.

But if there was one thing that defined me beyond "insects", it was my ability to attack every enemy within my range at once. So as soon as we both entered the field, it would be over. Someone would notice that there was one person who was, for no apparent reason, safe from my wrath. They would realize there was a connection between us, although most likely not exactly what that connection was.

But I didn't think anyone would conclude that -she- was converting -me-.

I'm sorry, Missy. No matter what either of us wants... I think in the end I'll be dragging you down with me.

***

If I'd been having this conversation with Parian a week ago, it probably would have been very different.

But that didn't mean I couldn't look for a little advice. I'd learned enough now to know how far I really had to go.

"I see. Thank you, Parian," I said, smiling at her. "You’ve _really_ given me a lot to think about."

"Not at all," Parian said modestly, glancing up at a clock on the wall as she did so. "Just, please, don’t repeat any of this to anyone, understand?"

"Of course," I said, glancing up at the clock as well. Yeah, it was time for us to get going, especially since we’d be on foot. "By the way, Parian," I said, standing up. "Would you mind doing another set of clothes for me?"

"I suppose not," Parian said, settling her mask back over her face. "If the two of you stained the maid costume, I _don’t_ want to know how you did it."

"No, nothing like that," I snorted. "Actually, I was thinking that I might look cute dressed up as Vista."

I didn’t need to see Parian’s face to picture the look of surprise on it. The way she just stared at me spoke volumes.

"... I find myself torn between wondering what other sides you have that I never guessed at, and wanting desperately not to learn about them."

"It's not like that!"

It was easy to imagine the smirk on Parian's face now too. "Sure. Come by sometime, and I'll see what I can do. But please, if anyone asks you why Vista, do not answer them in my presence."

I had a feeling I wasn't going to come out ahead on this one. "Okay. Oh, and Missy needs new panties for her maid costume."

"Please don't tell me you only stained those-"

"No!" I interjected. "She just needs ones that fit properly without a chastity belt."

"... You really are full of surprises tonight. I can fulfill this request as well, as long as you don't attempt to explain this change in your relationship either." She paused. "I already have all the required measurements, so Missy will not need to visit again for this."

As we left Parian's workshop, I started falling behind a bit. I was realizing that there was something else I needed to say here. Something a lot more serious than our previous banter. "Parian?" I called out.

"Yes, Skitter?"

"I'm sorry."

Parian stopped dead in her tracks.

"When Missy and I came over, and I spent all that time playing with her in front of you... I don't really know how you and Foil felt about it. But I didn't even consider it at the time, and it's something you never asked me for. I shouldn't have done that."

Parian started walking again, and I trailed behind, feeling a bit morose.

"Apology accepted." Parian paused, before adding, "Perhaps it would be all right if Missy came along with you. Though it's still not actually necessary."

"She might want to ask you for advice too," I noted.

"Advice?"

I went a bit redder behind my mask. "About being a dom."

"I'm once again starting to regret this entire conversation." But I could hear the amusement in Parian's voice again.

I could endure a little more teasing if that's what it took to clear the air between us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, the conversation with Parian was just going to be about changing who the new costume was for. And I was going to mention "Taylor should apologize to Lily and Sabah too" in the notes for Kiss and Maid Up.
> 
> Then I started typing, and suddenly I saw the "I'm sorry" moment in my mind. (Or maybe it was the "apology accepted". They're both very striking moments in my mind.) And had to make it happen.
> 
> I think Taylor was right about Foil and Parian wanting to tease her. And they may or may not have enjoyed "the show" as it were. (I'm not really sure myself.) But even if they did, that doesn't mean there isn't any discomfort and resentment about being used as an unwitting prop in someone else's sex play. And I think that's contributing to a certain amount of awkwardness in 6.5.
> 
> Of course, Taylor still needs to apologize to Lily. Which didn't happen here partly because I already had a perfect image in my mind for Taylor apologizing to Sabah, and it was just the two of them. And partly because I don't feel like I have a good enough idea of Lily's personality to actually write her. So that will be taking place offscreen.
> 
> Maid to Order - What, you thought Missy was going to be given the orders? (This chapter was originally going to be under a different name, but I decided to save that title for now.)
> 
> REMOTE - This is just good design! I've got a remote controlled sex toy (https://www.mysteryvibe.com/crescendo/) where the remote overrides the device controls. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't realize the remote has disconnected, and then -nothing- can operate it until a significant amount of time has passed. Or the battery dies. Or you can put it on the charger for a certain period of time, but if you've been using it that presents issues. I cannot overstate how annoying this is. The base needs to be able to override the remote.
> 
> So, here we've got a symbolic meaning (something that was limited to being used in one way can now be used in many ways) and a literal benefit (something that was limited to being used in one way can now be used in many ways). Also, they can turn it off when not in use so the batteries don't die all the time.
> 
> LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH, and FUCK ME - A (slightly modified) reference to Ack's It Gets Worse (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11651073/19/It-Gets-Worse).
> 
> Skitter wanted a show? - And she's back to calling Taylor 'Skitter' now? Well, I don't know if it's so obvious that no one's said anything, or people just think I'm making mistakes, but mostly what name I use when someone has two possible ones to use is sort of as an emotional barometer. It's supposed to say something about how they're thinking about that person at the time. Here though, it's a sign that Missy is going "in character".
> 
> about ten seconds - It wouldn't actually be impossible for Missy to just -not- be much interested in vaginal stimulation after all. But given the way this has played out, there's no way -I- was ever going to write her that way. Especially once I saw the parallel with the nipple vibrators.
> 
> Missy wanted me to take the toy out of her... and use it on myself? - The nice thing about living in fictionland is not having to worry about bacterial transfer. That's fancy for "this isn't actually a good idea".
> 
> Hot. It felt so hot. - In my experience you can get the same effect just by pulling out the toy, waiting a minute, then putting it back in. I hope this helps counter the above "do not do this ~~cool~~ sexy thing".


	10. The Gears of Maidness

I could hear her coming up behind me. There was the bone-rattling crash of masonry as the wall I had put between us collapsed. My breath was burning in my lungs as I ran, my legs going as fast as I could. I didn’t dare look behind me.

I reached out with my power, bringing the nearest building down so I could get up onto the roof. I ran up to it, crossing the compressed twenty stories in just a few bounds. Then I instantly let go again, sending the office building rocketing back up to its proper height. I tapped at my mic, but there was nothing, not even static. Nobody was listening.

I turned around, staring down at the distant ground. There was nothing there. No people, no cars, nothing. Just the plastic, pink push car I had owned when I was four, grown to ten times its proper size.

I felt sweat trickle down the back of my neck. Where was she? Where was I? I didn't know where I was. This didn't even look like Brockton Bay. I turned around and froze.

She was right in front of me. Tremendous, bigger than a van. Overgrown dog heads growled and screamed at me, biting the air with teeth longer than my forearm. On top of it, the emaciated upper half of a woman hung loosely, almost bent over the wall of flesh that was coming for me, batting aside antennae and A/C units.

I tried to use my power again. If I expanded the space between us enough, I would still have a chance.

At first I thought it was working. I was further away...

No. Everything around me was growing larger. Or I was getting smaller. Both were equally absurd, but I didn't have time to think about it before the paw came down-

I jolted awake as a hand shook my shoulder. "Sorry, Vista" Snowglare said, looking down at me. Where had she gotten enough sleep to be so obnoxiously perky, and why hadn't she shared with the rest of us? "Time to wake up."

I nodded, feeling my heart pounding in my chest. I hated Hellhound nightmares. Her power always made for the most disturbingly visceral imagery. I'm pretty sure that's how most of the others felt about Skitter nightmares. That... wasn't really much of a thing for me anymore. Skitter wet dreams, yes, nightmares not so much. Though the time one of the latter turned into one of the former was pretty weird.

"Okay," I said as I got up and stretched. "I'm up. Why am I up again?"

***

Light of Liberty and Snowglare were dueling, shooting bolts of red fire and white hexagons of pure cold at each other. They were each scrambling from side to side as the shots whipped up and down the length of the street. Behind him, I could see towering flames starting to lick at the buildings on either side of the warehouse. One of them was a factory, three times the size of the warehouse. If that went up, you’d be able to see it from Boston.

If we'd been able to ambush him, Toggle and I could have taken this guy down with no problem. Once he'd started burning everything though? Different story. And if I tried to warp the space around him to mess with his attacks, I'd make things just as bad or worse for Snowglare - she'd always been either unwilling or unable to learn how to work together with me that way.

The skinheads were scattering. Normally I'd say they were smart, trying to get away from the guy who was on fire, but since they mostly seemed intent on breaking more stuff, I'd still call them pretty stupid.

"Toggle, cover me!" She nodded, and I got to work. We could at least take the minions down. And they were already running, which meant I could use my favorite trick. One by one I warped space in front of them... and redirected them right into a wall at full speed. My baton was enough for a couple who weren't so cooperative, and Toggle got the one who ran right at us. (Which had to be the most dangerous possible way to go in this entire fight, since it would have exposed him to fire from both sides - what was he thinking?)

While we got them all cuffed I was trying to think of a next move. In theory, this would be the perfect time to flank Light, but that left us with the same problem - what did we do then?

Whatever it was, we'd better do something quickly. It looked to me like Snowglare was winning - team player or no, her power in a fight like this was undeniable. But until Light was down she couldn't really try to put out the burning buildings - and that was without his attacks starting more fires.

Hmmm.

"Toggle, can you remember if there's any water tanks high up here?"

***

I was so glad that Toggle had thought of going to the firefighters for help. That would work way better than searching for a water tower. Now I just had to get back to Snowglare and make sure the fight hadn't moved before I set up a warp. And once I did that... they wouldn't even have to come closer to the fight, all they had to do was spray the water in the right direction, and it would flow 'downhill' until it came out right where we needed it.

I was getting worried about Toggle though. Neither of us had gotten a lot of sleep, but she hadn't noticeably perked up once we got moving. That was concerning. If we got a chance, I might have to send her back, but I wasn't quite willing to do that yet.

And then I realized I should be paying more attention to my own situation, as something broke through the window behind me and dragged me into the building.

***

Whatever these things were, there was something living in there. If it was a robot I could just twist it into a pretzel, but I ran square into my Manton limits when I tried that. Most of my best tricks were out with it already holding onto me, and hitting it with my baton had yet to accomplish anything useful.

"CEASE YOUR FUTILE ATTEMPTS TO DAMAGE THE NEXT GENERATION, WOMAN! SUBMIT TO THE INTELLECTUALLY SUPERIOR GENDER!"

Oh come on. Did anyone really buy that stuff anymore, especially once parahumans came into play?

This was too dangerous. I found the plastic cube that Taylor had given me and crushed it without hesitation.

I didn't stop fighting. If I did that and she'd gone out of range, I would probably die. But my continued struggles weren't accomplishing much either.

My armor was starting to creak alarmingly and I was thinking that maybe this was it when something came through the window and slammed into both of us. The impact hurt almost as much as the claws had, but that wasn't as important as the fact that it had broken the lobster-thing's grip on me, and I was able to pull free. I couldn't claim to have managed more than an awkward stumble away from them, but the important thing was I'd gotten out of the immediate line of impact, and could see what had come to my rescue.

It was a giant blue and black bug. Atlas, if I was recalling correctly.

Skitter had come to my rescue. Oh, maybe not in person, but only an idiot complained about a master just sending their pets to help them, especially when the aid had been so timely.

And of course, since it was Skitter, it wasn't just one bug that had come in, even if only the big one seemed to be accomplishing much right now. Some of them peeled off and formed a familiar silhouette next to me. "Vizta," it said.

Don't let on you know her, don't let on you know her... "Skitter." It helped that the swarm's 'voice' was so strange and inhuman, nothing like the real Taylor's, that was- no! Wrong time to think about that!

"Lookz like you're having a rough time of thingz."

She probably wasn't just talking about the fight she'd intervened in. "It's been a busy weekend," I replied.

I wasn't just standing idle while we talked. Given a moment to catch my breath, I could see that there were more lobster-men on the floor below us. They didn't have a clear path to get to me with the one that was already fighting up here, but if they went to reinforce Light of Liberty they could catch Snowglare in a pincer attack and that would be a real problem.

(I only realized the inadvertent pun I'd made much later.)

These were just as alive as the one that had grabbed me, so while I could mess with the exits and keep them from getting out now, that would only hold for so long. I wasn't quite willing to collapse the building on them, and while Skitter's swarm was distracting them it didn't seem to be doing any damage - whatever flesh they had must be well protected.

We needed another heavy hitter.

"Skitter!" I called out. "Can you let me talk to Toggle?" I was sure she knew all the other Wards by name, and if she was in range of this fight then she almost certainly had eyes on Toggle too.

Moments later, the 'Skitter' next to me changed shape. Now it was a Toggle silhouette. "Zpeak," it said.

***

And not far away, the firefighters got another surprise as a different swarm formed a Vista shape in front of Toggle... but I only heard about that later.

***

Of course I couldn't hear tone or anything through this method of communication, but I got the impression that Toggle was a bit baffled by this turn of events. Still, once we'd exchanged recognition codes, she agreed to come reinforce us.

Once she arrived, the fight was basically over. I'd open a path to one of the lobster-men and Toggle would smash it down, with Atlas flanking it and hindering any attempts at a counterattack, while the rest of Skitter's swarm kept the others distracted and unaware that we were whittling their numbers down one by one.

Toggle nearly collapsed after taking down the last one. "Is it... is it over?" she asked.

"These guys definitely are." I gave Toggle a one-armed hug, which got me a bit of a smile at least. "You did great, Toggle."

Most of the bugs had already left the warehouse, but there was still a Skitter-shape next to us. "Your friend zeemz to have beaten Light of Liberty as well," she interjected. "Very imprezzive, Wards. I'll be keeping zome eyez on you."

And then they were gone too.

"Come on, let's see if we can find a phone that works," I said. The sooner we got this place called in, the better.

"... Yeah," Toggle sighed. Yeah, she should probably be heading back to base even if we weren't all recalled at this point.

As I looked through one of the offices, I couldn't help but smile a bit as I reached into one of my pouches and felt the fresh new cube that some of Skitter's flying bugs had delivered to me earlier. A fight was no place to exchange love tokens... but this had a practical purpose, so it was fine. And if it made me feel a bit warmer inside having been given something practical during a fight, so what?

I'd probably have to answer some uncomfortable questions about our impromptu teamup. But while such things were frowned upon, it wasn't exactly against the rules either, and for some good reasons. And we'd been able to stop an enemy that we probably couldn't have been handled on our own because of it. So everything should be okay.

For now, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After chapter 8 was posted, there was a bit of discussion on Vista's power level. TheEyes (from QQ) made a comment that put me on the morale issue, and that played a big part in how this chapter turned out.
> 
> Because when I think about it, it's not just that Missy is already out to Taylor in this version of the setting. It's not that she has no troubles, but she's resolved a pretty big chunk of the doubts that MtS Missy is still struggling with, and has received some major validation of her choice to be a hero. She's just plain in a better state of things, and that's going to have effects both on the period between 7 and 8, and how the events here play out.
> 
> MtSA Missy has still had a rough weekend, but she's been just that much more on top of her game and managed to get just enough more sleep to make things play out differently even before Skitter comes on the scene. Probably picked up some extra meal bars too. It all adds up.
> 
> The Gears of Maidness - A play on the name of Voldo's stage theme from Soul Edge.
> 
> Though the time one of the latter turned into one of the former was pretty weird. - Part of me kinda wants to write it, if only to firmly establish that it contained no actual bug sex.
> 
> there were more lobster-men on the floor below us - Vista's moving faster here, so the ones that joined in against the other Wards hadn't deployed yet.
> 
> inadvertent pun - It was inadvertent for the author too. I decided it was better to just lampshade it and move on, since any other way I could come up to describe the situation seemed even more awkward.
> 
> recognition codes - Well, there's got to be some reason why Toggle's willing to trust these bugs that just showed up. This wouldn't actually prevent Skitter from having done a man-in-the-middle attack if she weren't, you know, friendly and all, but it at least indicated that the real Vista was involved and not acting under duress, and that was enough to get her moving.


	11. Maid Refresh

**Taylor**

I'd known there would be times that would tempt me to go back on what I'd said to Missy. But I hadn't realized it would come so soon.

It'd been so easy to encourage her to continue to be a hero sitting in the comfort of my own lair. You could even say I was living vicariously through her, a little bit. My childhood dreams may have been dashed, but knowing that she still had that... it made me happier somehow. And I knew that Vista was strong. She might be younger than me, younger than a lot of the capes in town, but that didn't make her anyone to trifle with.

It was one thing to know all of that... and another to see what had almost happened.

Sure, you could say a lot of it was bad luck. Getting up close and personal with a brute equivalent like that was a terrible matchup for her, but she'd more than shown what she could do once she'd gotten the chance. And to have come this far, she must be pretty good at staying out of situations like that. None of that had much emotional impact when I'd seen how close she came to her luck running out.

There was a part of me that wanted to try to convince Missy to leave the Wards, give up being a hero. I didn't think she'd join me, but at least she could stay with me.

It was stupid, of course. My lifestyle wasn't exactly safe either. Doing that wouldn't make her safer, it would just make her more enemies. I knew that, but... I was still tempted.

Then there was the other interesting development from the weekend.

Toggle.

I'd already known of her, of course - I made a point of knowing what I could about all the capes who operated in the Bay. But I hadn't had that much reason to think about her before.

I'd gained some respect for her after what had happened. She'd looked about ready to drop when I found her, but still came running in response to Vista's call for aid. That counted for something. But there was something about the way she'd looked at Vista that made me wonder if she might see the other Ward as more than just a colleague.

If so, it was obvious that Missy didn't have a clue about it. And I just didn't know what to do about that either, especially since I couldn't be entirely sure that it wasn't just me projecting my own feelings about her.

I'd seen a movie that had a setup like this. Going by that, I should kidnap Toggle, threaten to boil her in a big pot, and then after a few unknown steps we'd all end up in bed together. Sounded like an absolutely terrible plan with no chance of working out well for anyone, but that didn't help me come up with any actually good ideas.

I really should try and get some work done, but right now my heart wasn't in it.

I hoped Missy came by soon.

**Missy**

I hadn't realized that Skitter's place had been hit, but in retrospect it wasn't surprising.

It bothered me.

There didn't appear to be a lot of damage, though now that I was closer I could tell where more had been, by the glistening of fresh paint. Still, I'd participated in multiple actions over the weekend that had involved more property damage than this. Just the fight with Light of Liberty had been a lot worse in that regard, though admittedly pyrokinetics tended to take collateral damage to the next level anyway. But it wasn't about the amount of damage, it was what it represented. It was hard for me to see this as anything but an attempted assassination.

One that heroes had made possible.

Oh, I knew all the arguments about unmasking capes. How could I not? I'd been too young to know what was going on during the rise and fall of the New Wave movement, but it was something that people were still talking about years later. And I'd been an active cape for years by the time the Empire's capes got outed en masse. There were other incidents of accidental or purposeful reveals too, ones that made enough of a splash that they got talked about here even if they weren't so close to home.

I knew some people would point to this and say that it was good. Gangs fighting other gangs means they aren't hurting innocent civilians, right?

But in practice, it just didn't seem to work out that way. Most of the time it just resulted in a whole lot more innocent people getting hurt. Outing Skitter hadn't done that, but it sure didn't seem to have served any actual law enforcement purpose either.

And it just seemed like a pretty poor way to thank her for what she'd done against the Slaughterhouse Nine. I couldn't help but wonder where she might have gone from there if they hadn't backed her into a corner...

I sighed. There was no point in hanging around outside getting melancholy. Taylor was probably starting to wonder why I was standing out here just staring at the building.

So I went inside. As I was walking down the hallway I saw Charlotte in the greatroom, doing some paperwork.

"Hey, Missy," she called out with a smile. "Am I going to need the earplugs today?"

"No!" I huffed. I was kind of glad she'd gotten comfortable enough around me to tease, but I thought I could do without actually -getting- teased. Besides, we didn't make that much noise anywhere that you could hear it downstairs. "It's just, after what happened this weekend..."

Charlotte gave me an understanding look. "You want to make sure that the boss is all right," she said.

I nodded. "Something like that." I was pretty sure the news would have gotten out if anything had happened to Taylor, but there was a difference between knowing that and actually seeing her.

"Huh," Charlotte said, leaning back in her chair. "... have you got a minute to talk?" she asked.

"Uh... sure," I said as I went in and sat down in the chair across from her. "What's up?"

She didn't say anything for a little while, apparently trying to get her thoughts in order. "Missy... it's not that I want to discourage you or anything. The- _Taylor_ has been a lot happier since she started seeing you, especially since you told me that you were dating. But things like this... they're going to keep happening, you know? Skitter has enemies. And you could be a target too, if the wrong person finds out about your relationship."

I nodded. "Thanks for the warning. But... I've lived in Brockton Bay all my life, so I understand the risks." A lot more of them than I could tell her about, for that matter. "It's not going to change my decision."

"Well... if you've thought about it, I guess that's really all I can ask," she replied, still sounding a bit pensive. "Just be careful, okay? I wouldn't want to see you get hurt."

"I will." I stood up. "Talk to you later, Charlotte."

"Later, Missy," she said, before going back to her papers.

As I went up the stairs, I felt the anticipation growing inside of me. It wasn't a sexual thing - I wasn't really in the mood right now. I just... needed to see Taylor, and the feeling was growing stronger as I got closer. I opened the door...

And there she was, standing there waiting for me. She was in costume, but her mask was off, and I could see the smile on her face. For a moment I just stood there and looked at her...

Then I ran over and threw my arms around her. Her armor felt rough against my cheek as I leaned into her, but her hands were warm even through her gloves as she returned the embrace. I'd known that Taylor was okay... probably, but there was a difference between that and this. I'd get tired the angular bits pressing into me soon enough, but for now I was content holding her in my arms and knowing, really knowing, that we'd both made it through after all.

That's when my phone rang.

Is it any wonder I started snickering, having all those sappy thoughts interrupted like that?

I pulled back a bit and looked up at Taylor, who quirked an eyebrow at me as if to say 'aren't you going to get that?' With a sheepish grin I stepped away and pulled out my phone. It read _A.T._ with a phone number underneath it. Anne. I accepted the call, and raised the phone to my ear.

"Hi."

"Hi, Missy!" Anne’s exuberant voice said in my ear. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine," I replied. "Just visiting a friend." I knew she'd recognize the hidden message in the innocuous phrase - I'm around someone not in the know, no talking about cape stuff. It wasn't even a lie - Taylor knew about me, but not about Anne. And for all our sakes, that's how it needed to stay.

**Taylor**

I sat down on the couch and waited as Missy talked on the phone. I wasn't trying to listen in, but since she hadn't left the room I couldn't help but hear her side of the conversation. Sounded like she had a friend who'd gotten hurt, and I wondered if they'd gotten caught up in the fighting.

Or they could have been part of it, if they were a Ward. But I wasn't going to speculate. Really I think I was just glad to know that she had other friends, even if it was probably safer that I didn't learn too much about them.

And even if they were very shouty friends, I thought as I saw Missy rubbing her ear.

I didn't really mind that she'd made plans to go visit them later. I had things I needed to do then anyway, and in the meantime I got to spend time with Missy now.

Missy put her phone away and sat down next to me. For a while we both just sat there. It wasn't exactly an uncomfortable silence, but I didn't really want to spend too long doing nothing with each other like this.

Then I was stricken by an impulse. "Did I ever tell you about my mom?" I asked.

Missy looked surprised. "No, I don't think you have," she said.

"She was an English professor at BBU. Brigade actually busted up her old office when they attacked the college," I said that last part with a scowl. "I really think she would have liked you..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while since I posted anything for this setting, huh? Though I have got some other things in progress or at least in planning. Plus of course there's Maid to Dress Up.
> 
> I actually started this over a month ago, but only figured out where I wanted to go with some of it in the past couple days. And before that, I sat down and sorted out my writing folder. Different directories for different stories, what a concept! And my MtSA stuff is still a mess. Half the main chapter files don't even have names matching what they were posted as, and forget guessing what order they came in... Ah, well, for anything that's been posted I'll usually look it upon Ao3 if I need to check something anyway.
> 
> Mostly in this chapter I was trying to both parallel and contrast with the events of MtS chapter 9 in interesting ways. This Missy and Taylor may not have reveal drama to deal with, but the weekend hit them hard in it's own way.
> 
> I'd apologize for all the sappiness, but I actually love sappy stuff, so I won't.
> 
> threaten to boil her in a big pot - I've actually been contemplating a non-canon "Days" chapter in which this scenario features, but not exactly in the way Taylor is imagining here...
> 
> That's when my phone rang. - Timing is everything. *snerk*
> 
> Did I ever tell you about my mom? - They probably had the vacation conversation too, but I wanted to show them starting off with something else, and for some reason this seemed right.


	12. Maid Light Of

**Missy**

The hell with it. I needed some sympathetic company more than I needed a quiet place to do homework, and I was pretty sure everyone I could expect it from around here had already left the building. And even if I couldn't explain the exact problem... I was pretty sure Taylor would understand.

***

Twenty minutes later, I was slipping into Skitter’s lair through the back door. I knew she was there, from the butterfly that had landed on my hand. There would have been other signals if there was someone there I should avoid, so I didn't hesitate to go upstairs, though I did wave to Sierra as I went by.

Taylor was already standing up from her desk when I came in the door, and quickly came over when she saw my expression.

"You look like you've had a rough day," Taylor said, pulling me into a hug.

"Mostly it was just a -long- day, but then there were..." things I shouldn't talk about, even if the result would eventually be public... "politics," I finished.

"Ah," she replied. "The one true enemy of heroes and villains alike."

I chuckled a little, but my good mood didn't last.

Intellectually I understood that in her position Miss Militia had to play the political game. It sounded like a bad joke, and sometimes things went too far, but the basic idea was still true. No PR, no PRT.

But she had a responsibility to _us_ too. Being a Ward wasn't safe, but they had a duty to at least try to keep us healthy, and that didn't just mean our bodies. Usually I thought Miss Militia was pretty good about it, but this... Toggle just plain did not need this crap.

Hell, I'd bet this guy wouldn't even notice her missing, give what he sounded like. I was sure my absence would garner more comment - I was pretty well known, even if I didn't have the kind of reputation I really wanted. But I could handle going out there and putting up with him, fake smiling my way through the event if that would take the heat off of Toggle. 

Or would doing that be taking the coward's way out? Was taking a stand with my friend better or worse than helping her stay out of trouble? I wasn't really sure.

I suppose it didn't really matter, since it didn't seem like such an easy compromise was in our future.

I only realized how much I was tensing up when I felt Taylor start rubbing my back, trying to ease that tension. I sighed. I'd come here wanting to -not- spend all night thinking about all of that. And I was feeling a bit better, but my mind kept circling back to the problem anyway.

"I've got something that might help take your mind off of it," Taylor said after a while.

"Oh?" I replied. "What is it?"

"A surprise," she said with a grin.

Well, now I'm curious. "Sure, go for it."

Taylor let go of me and went for the door. "It'll just take me a few minutes to get ready," she said.

I sat down on the couch, smiling as I tried to guess what Taylor might have in mind. I wasn't having much luck. I could think of all sorts of things Taylor could do to 'take my mind off of it', but the way she said it gave me the impression that she had something in mind that she really didn't think I'd expect.

Huh, maybe this was already working as a distraction.

Then Taylor came in the door and struck a pose.

I blinked. For a moment I just had to stop and take it all in.

Then I burst out laughing.

Taylor gave me a quizzical look, head cocked to one side, and scratched her head before adjusting her visor. "I have to admit, that's not the reaction I was expecting," she said.

"I'm sorry," I wasn't really, "but you looked just like one of those recruiting posters, and-" and that's all I managed to get out around the giggles before I completely lost it, almost sliding off the couch. I was laughing so hard I was having to blink tears out of my eyes. I felt Taylor sit down next to me and pull me back onto the couch, holding me as I got it out of my system.

At that point I could actually take a closer look at what she was wearing. And I had to admit... "That's one of the best Vista costumes I've ever seen."

Obviously, it wasn't exactly like mine, but it wasn't trying to be. There was no armor here, nothing but soft material that I could see except for the visor. Parian (who else could it be?) hadn't been trying to slavishly replicate my look. That never seemed to produce anything but crap. And I knew all about crappy knockoffs of my costume; like a lot of capes I'd become somewhat inured to it, at least as long as I wasn't being asked to wear one myself. (It probably helped that I actually got some extra money around the holidays from my share of the licensing fees.)

The costume Taylor was wearing was successful because Parian had obviously focused on capturing the style instead. It reminded me of one of the suggested options for my 'dress costume' the last time they'd decided the Wards needed new ones. The option I'd -liked-, before PR decided they needed to 'cute it up' and ruined it. (That was when I realized how lucky I'd really been with my regular costume, even if it had it's own flaws.)

I was very tempted to ask Parian to make me one, just to see what would happen if I walked into the next formal event they made us attend wearing it, but that would lead to way too many awkward questions.

Taylor's voice broke the reverie I'd fallen into. (At least it was a lot more pleasant than the brooding I'd been doing.) "You don't look like you're especially interested in peeling me out of it."

I chuckled again, remembering how I'd responded when Taylor had suggested she get a costume like this. "I think I'd have to be in a very -particular- sort of mood for that," I said. "Hopefully you didn't have your heart set on anything right now."

"I'm sure I'll get over my disappointment," she said, her dry tone telling me that she wasn't really bothered. "I'm just glad you're feeling better." She pulled off her visor and set it on a side table before taking her glasses out of a pocket and putting them on. "I may have to get contacts again if I'm going to wear costumes like this very often..." she mused.

I was only half paying attention at that point. I really was feeling better, wasn't I? I hadn't forgotten about what had happened, but... I felt more like I could leave that to be tomorrow's problem, somehow. "Thanks," I said while giving her a hug. "That was exactly what I needed."

And then my stomach started growling.

"Sounds like that's not all you need," Taylor added, sounding amused.

I felt my face redden a bit. "It's been a long day..."

**Taylor**

Missy had some of the leftover casserole that Charlotte had made yesterday. I'd already eaten, but I nibbled on some crackers just to be companionable.

And then we went back upstairs where began a pleasant but slightly peculiar interlude.

Missy might have come to terms with what I did even if she didn't like it (something I could relate to in a way), but I didn't think she'd appreciate seeing me do what might be gang-related work while dressed like this. So I grabbed a book and sat down to do a little reading while Missy dug into her homework.

I could only imagine what it would look like from the outside. There I am, dressed in a Vista costume, whiling away the time with a novel. Next to me, the real, actual Vista is doing math problems.

What an absurd image.

But... it was nice. Being together like this, even if we weren't exactly doing anything together.

This costume... getting it had been something of a silly impulse. And, yes, something of a perverted impulse too. I'd have been entirely (extremely) happy if Missy had wanted to have me right then and there when she'd seen me wearing it, with or without any creative additions.

I'd imagined a -lot- of possible creative additions, though I wasn't sure Missy would like most of them.

Well, I hadn't turned her on after all, but I'd made her happy, helped her get her mind off her problems. (If it was political, I suspected I'd learn what it was sometime... whatever, that's not important right now.) And every so often we'd both look up, and I'd see her take in what I was wearing again and grin before going back to her books. And that was enough to make me feel good too.

I felt like I was starting to understand what Dad had meant. Maybe we weren't leaping into bed right now, but I didn't mind. Moments like this... there was something here that I wanted too.

"Fuck," Missy announced, tossing books, pencil, and all down on a table she'd pulled over.

Or that could happen. I almost laughed at the incongruity between my previous train of thought and what had interrupted it, but supressed it; from her look of frustration I doubted Missy would appreciate it. "Something wrong?"

"If you ever thought my power would give me some kind of instinctive grasp of complicated math... well, it doesn't." She sighed. "I know I -should- be able to solve this problem, but I'm obviously losing the thread somewhere."

I leaned over and looked at the problem she had marked. "I'm a bit rusty on this myself, but..."

**Missy**

Rusty help, as it turned out, was a great deal better than no help at all. Taylor didn't try to do the problems for me and I wasn't going to ask her to; that was a great way to fail tests. But even when her suggestions were -wrong-, they were enough to get me out of whatever rut I was stuck in, think about the problem in a different way, and make progress.

Huh. There was a lot of that going around tonight, wasn't there?

The rest of my math work went by a lot faster than I'd expected. Literature wasn't bad to start with; I liked the book we were currently studying, so it was easy to come up with something to write about. And even if only the first draft of this essay was due tomorrow, having someone to look over what I'd come up with was nice.

I decided that the rest could wait until tomorrow, since there wasn't too much left and I'd have a study hall before those classes. Some time away from school stuff was what I needed now.

Once I got everything packed away I leaned back against Taylor, my eyes closed.

"Your hair smells really good," I noted. I didn't think she was using scented shampoo or anything like that, but... I don't know, I just liked it.

Taylor didn't say anything in reply, but I felt her gently pat my arm a couple times before her hand settled on mine. I sighed happily.

We'd been half cuddling for a good chunk of the evening, and it'd felt nice, but... I'd just been too agitated when I first got here to be interested in the proposition implied by the costume. And I still didn't think I was in the mood for that... but I was feeling very aware of Taylor herself now. And very interested.

"Why don't you go change into something I'd be more interested in peeling you out of?" I asked.

Maybe that sounded silly, but it made Taylor laugh, so I'd call it a win. I felt more than heard her rise from the couch. "I'll be waiting," she replied.

I gave her a little time before I got up and went over to one of the cabinets. Most of the clothes I had here were in the closet upstairs now, but I kept a few things down here in case I wanted to... make an entrance, shall we say. Getting sexy underwear in my size (that wasn't made by Parian) was a bit of a challenge, but I had a few nice things in here.

Though I didn't expect any of it to stay on me for very long...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WestOrEast actually gave me a bit of a sneak peek for chapter 10 (which cut out before the sex started), so I got an early start on this. I was expecting to say that it could happen in MtSA, but wasn't happening -right now-.
> 
> Turns out it can't, exactly, since it hits at least one of this Missy's known but not mentioned on screen No things. Huh. I can't decide why that amuses me, but it does.
> 
> But, yeah, I decided to follow up on something else here, as well as give them some non-sexually oriented bonding time, since I haven't written as much of that.
> 
> butterfly - This is a great idea that I wish I'd thought of, so I expanded upon it.
> 
> all sorts of things - I'd thought about having some qualifiers around this, but then I decided you know what, no. Missy trusts Taylor not to just spring on her the kind of things she'd rather not have sprung on her, so she's not going to be thinking about that.
> 
> dress costume - In fact, what Taylor is wearing (and Missy wants her own of) was inspired by the dress costume Vista gets in Mauling Snarks.
> 
> how lucky I'd really been with my regular costume - Where I try to reconcile Missy mentioning having come up with the design for her Vista costume in "Kiss and Maid Up" with her complaining about part of it in MtS chapter 9. Obviously it represented a compromise position and some days she feels better about the result than others.
> 
> my stomach started growling - Now that I think about it, Missy going for sex rather than food first could be the single least relatable thing in chapter 10 for me. ;)
> 
> make an entrance - This bit came about when I thought "Wait, doesn't it lose some of the impact if Missy and Taylor both change in the bedroom, then one walks out and walks back in?" Of course, Missy could just take what she intended to put on downstairs before changing, but I figure, they've got the space, they use it.


	13. Maid About You

**Taylor**

I paused for a moment as I approached Phage and Starstruck's lair. It looked like Tattletale was visiting too - or at least, that was the car she usually used in the driveway. Huh. I knew she had her own projects that I wouldn't necessarily know anything about, but it still took me by surprise.

Well, it probably wasn't important. My business shouldn't take long, and whatever she was here for we probably wouldn't get in each other's way.

I quickly realized how wrong I was as Atlas descended towards the back yard, and I saw a side of my best friend that I'd never seen before through the kitchen windows.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. I'd seen this side of her before.

Quite often, in fact.

It was just that all those other times, she'd had -something- other than just her mask on.

I took a deep breath. Lisa was her own woman, and as she was obviously enjoying getting double penetrated by Amy and Vicky, there was nothing going on -as such- that I had any reason to complain about, just... what the hell?

Also, I'd made an appointment for the express purpose of not walking in on scenes like this, but honestly that wasn't the biggest concern in my mind right now.

I knocked on the back door. Almost immediately I noticed Amy's head jerk, and then all three turned to look at the window.

Moments later Amy was running for the interior of the house, with Lisa following her. I noticed there was actually a cord of some kind connecting their ankles together, and Amy was dragging another behind her that Vicky had just slipped off her own.

I wasn't sure what that was about, since it obviously wasn't any kind of bondage thing. In fact, I didn't need to know what it was about.

I'd almost certainly learn what it was about anyway, but the important thing was that I didn't need to.

Vicky, in the meantime, had started getting dressed right there in the kitchen, though the look on her face before I'd turned away told me that she was doing this for my benefit rather than her own.

I wondered how long I'd be waiting. I was probably going to be late meeting up with Rachel and Brian if it took very long, but all I'd have to do was say "Phage and Starstruck were at it again", and they'd immediately understand. Or at least, they wouldn't ask me any more questions.

A bit later, Vicky opened the door. "Hey, Taylor," she said. "You're here early."

I frowned. "Actually, I'm late now."

"Really?" She turned to look at the clock, and I couldn't help but notice the way her skirt tented out a bit. Wait, I hadn't been imagining that? Wouldn't she have removed a strapon before putting her clothes back on? "Huh. I guess we got distracted. Well, come in and have a seat, Amy shouldn't be too long."

"I'll stand," I replied. I'd come to terms with the fact that Amy and Vicky had probably had sex on every available surface in their home, and given how much progress Missy and I had made towards that goal in my own lair it'd be a bit hypocritical for me to say something like 'and now I can't sit in that chair'.

It's just that it was a bit different when I'd just seen them going at it right then and there.

***

Finally, all were fully clothed and back in the kitchen. The others had all sat down without hesitation, but I was still standing.

For a moment I just looked at Lisa, then I sighed and sat down in the chair across from her. This wasn't really a conversation to have with one of us looking down at the other.

"I thought you didn't do relationships," I began. "Or sex, or have any interest in girls, or... any of this, really."

Lisa tried to wave it off, but we'd known each other long enough that I could see the hint of melancholy in her smile. "It's easy to tell yourself you don't want something when you don't think you can ever have it. But when Vicky suggested that maybe her sister could help, I couldn't ignore the possibility. And now... Well, it's not exactly like you and your girlfriend, but..." She glanced over at the sisters, and her smile warmed a bit as Vicky reached over to place her hand on Lisa's. "...I'm happy. Sometimes it's really nice to be able to put everything to the side for a while and just fu-"

I cut her off. "I don't need to know the details!"

Lisa seemed to relax a bit, now that she had an opportunity to tease me. "Oh? Are you sure you don't want to know? Because I'm sure there's one thing you won't be able to stop yourself from asking about..."

I hated to admit it, but she was right. I sighed and gave in to the inevitable. "Why do you two have dicks?"

"For fun," Vicky replied.

Okay, I walked right into that one. "Okay, let me rephrase that. -How- do you have dicks? Especially Amy, since the last time I checked she couldn't use her power on herself." In theory Brian could have done it for her, but in practice I considered that very unlikely.

"They're not really the same thing," Amy replied. "Mine is more like a prosthetic. It's not really a part of my body, but it looks and feels like it. I actually figured out a lot of how to do that from working with Lisa and Vicky. My sister's, though, it's more or less a real cock in most ways. It can even cum. I'm really a bit jealous about that."

Vicky stuck her tongue out at her sister. "It's not like you don't have plenty of fun with it anyway."

Amy grinned back. "It's true. That's actually the most unrealistic part, I tweaked things so Vicky can cum quite a few times before we have to stop."

I groaned. "I really didn't need to know that either."

Amy just grinned some more, and I once again wondered if she really had no sense of when to stop talking, or if she just liked shocking people. I suppose maybe she could have picked some of that up from Lisa?

"I don't think I'd want to have a dick all the time," Vicky added. "But it is fun sometimes, and since my forcefield doesn't interfere with it..." She trailed off.

I knew some of what she was talking about, even if I wasn't sure of all the details. The whole thing actually sounded pretty nightmarish. I guess I couldn't blame her if she was pretty happy just having some kind of solution to the problem.

Huh. Suddenly I understood why Vicky might have approached Lisa about her own issues. There was a definite similarity there.

Actually, now that I was getting over being weirded out by the whole situation...

"Amy? Could you do that for other people?" I asked.

Lisa started giggling, which I steadfastly ignored. Or tried to anyway.

"Sounds like you want to know after all," Amy replied a bit acerbically.

"Sorry. I just wasn't expecting to find you all like that." Wait, why was I apologizing? It wasn't like I'd just shown up, they'd known I was coming...

But I was asking for a favor, so I decided to hold my peace.

Amy shrugged. "Okay, I'll need to explain the rest of the details to you first..."

And my resolve was immediately to be tested.

***

Somewhat to my surprise, Amy actually tamped down on most of the perverted comments and gave me a pretty clinical explanation of things. It probably was all information I'd want to have if I was actually considering doing this.

And I was. It wasn't that I had any major complaints about my or Missy's bodies, or that our sex lives were somehow 'incomplete' because no one had a penis. But... Vicky was right. It sounded like fun, at least once in a while. I could imagine a lot of fun things either or both of us could do with one.

"I'll need to talk to Missy about this," I said. It was definitely too much to just surprise her with. And that was just for me. If Missy wanted to try it herself...

"I don't have all of the materials right now anyway," Amy said. "Oh, and if you want me to give her one I'll need to give her the full lecture too."

...I wasn't at all sure how well that would go over.

"If the floor show is over, I need to get back to town," Lisa interjected. After she got up, she paused to give Amy and Vicky a quick kiss each before leaving the kitchen. Shortly thereafter I heard the front door open and close, and through the bugs outside I saw Lisa get into her car and drive away.

Huh. I really didn't expect anything like this from her, and I didn't really understand it. But if it made Lisa happy, I'd be happy for her.

While I'd been thinking about that, Amy had gotten up and gone over to the fridge. "You said Atlas needed a checkup, right? You're a bit earlier than usual for that."

"I've been taking Missy flying with me sometimes lately," I replied. "Don't want to take any chances." Missy had really taken to flying. She'd said it was an entirely different kind of thrill from the "roof hopping" she could do with her power.

I was a bit sad that I'd probably never get to try doing that with her.

"About every three weeks then?" Amy asked, and I nodded in reply. "Okay. I'll try not to get distracted next time you call."

I'd heard that one before. I'd believe it when I saw it. Or didn't see it, so to speak.

**Missy**

"... And then Phage said it would take a couple of days anyway," Taylor said. "But I thought we should talk about it before I committed to anything."

I frowned, but nodded, and settled back in my chair to think about it.

On the one hand, it sounded fun. I -was- attracted to guys too, and while I didn't think having a penis would be the only difference, I was still curious. And having one myself for a while would probably be an experience. It wasn't exactly something I'd thought about before, but now that the idea was in my head I was sure I'd be coming up with all sorts of fantasies.

On the other hand... Phage.

I wasn't a big fan of turncoats. I didn't exactly consider this a failing, but I could at least admit to myself that my position there wasn't strong either. Not when I mostly found myself just trying not to think about it too much.

And after hearing Taylor's story... Well. I'd only heard the vaguest rumors about what was actually behind New Wave's breakdown. But now I couldn't help but wonder if Glory Girl and Panacea had felt like -they- were backed into a corner with no way out once.

That still left the other cause for my concern, which ironically was the same thing that led to the issue even coming up.

 _Biokinetic_.

Powers like Phage's were rare... and often found in the hands of some of the world's most terrifying villains. That was a bit hard to get over. And it didn't actually make things any easier that I knew I owed her my life, even though it felt like it ought to.

She barely even qualified as a criminal really. Oh, there'd been rumors about her doing some under-the-table 'plastic surgery' and such. Nothing I'd have felt like I had to get worked up over if an independent was doing it, unless they were hurting people in the process, and she wasn't. Of course I'd thought similar things about Parian before, but even if I wasn't sure that was right, I wasn't sure it was wrong either.

And Taylor trusted her. That counted for something. Not just anytime someone needed healing, but given that she was responsible for Atlas, weren't we both trusting ourselves to her skill whenever we flew on the giant beetle?

Okay. I didn't really think Phage was going to do anything bad to either of us if we tried this thing. I wasn't even particularly worried about her recognizing Vista at this point.

But that didn't actually mean I was entirely comfortable with the idea either.

"I don't think I can make a decision on this today," I finally said.

Taylor looked up from her laptop and nodded. "Take your time," she replied. "As long as we don't bother her too often, it shouldn't be a problem whatever we decide to do."

I sighed. Yeah. I don't need to rush this. "Are you almost done over there?" I asked.

"Sorry," Taylor replied. "My schedule got kind of thrown off today. It's going to take me a while to catch up yet."

I looked at my watch. With how late it already was... I wasn't going to get to spend much time with Taylor tonight unless I stayed over, and I couldn't get away with doing that too often. "I'd probably better get on my way to mom's then," I said.

"Still think you'll be able to come by tomorrow?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah." I got up and went over to give her a hug (scrupulously not looking at the laptop). "Good night, Taylor."

"Good night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another chapter where I was sort of like "Well, in MtSA they've already done some of these developments... so now what?"
> 
> Then as I was thinking about how things would be different with the different Amy and Vicky, I thought "what if Lisa was there at the same time?", and the three of them kind of stole the show from there.
> 
> Amy was running for the interior of the house - Amy, I decided, can be a bit exhibitionistic sometimes, but can also still be a bit shy when she's not expecting it. And she wasn't expecting to see Taylor's face in the window right then. (Even though she should have.) Vicky, on the other hand...
> 
> obviously wasn't any kind of bondage thing - Taylor is correct in the sense that it isn't for these three, but it probably could be a bondage thing for a different group.
> 
> sat down in the chair across from her - Because seating arrangements are a thing you need to know. Amy and Vicky have a kitchen table that can, but may never have, seated six. Lisa and Amy are sitting on one side, Vicky is sitting on the end next to Amy, then Taylor is opposite Lisa and not next to anyone. Huh, that last part just struck me now. It's not supposed to be her going "ew, cooties" anymore, I swear.
> 
> more like a prosthetic - Though I complain about some of the details, this was actually a nice workaround to Amy not being able to work on herself. MtSA Amy's is a bit different in part to satisfy my complaints, and partly because I figure with her experience working with Lisa (and having Lisa to serve as a sounding board) Amy's skills have developed differently. (Fun fact - the biological parts are actually cloned Vicky cells, because Amy's power won't let her mess around with her cells even when they've been separated from her body.) I don't know if I'll actually write anything where the differences will matter though.
> 
> more or less a real cock - As previously seen in Nobody Ever Looks Up. No sperm production though.
> 
> But I was asking for a favor - This Amy's got a bit better of a relationship with the Undersiders (one in particular), so it felt right for her to be a bit less mercenary. Which isn't to say that they don't get paid for things, just that this is different.
> 
> any major complaints - Just about everyone's probably got minor complaints.
> 
> too much to just surprise her with - This isn't a dig at the way it happens in MtS, it's just part of how their relationship works in MtSA.
> 
> I don't think I can make a decision on this today - I'm not giving Missy as extreme a reaction to Phage as in MtS, but I still can't see her not being conflicted or having an easy time deciding here.
> 
> Good night, Taylor. - What, not even a fade to black? Well, I decided that in order to give myself flexibility on the timeline, the actual sex scene following up on this will be in a Days chapter. I'm running kind of long on ideas and short on time right now, so I don't know when that'll be.


End file.
